Wilier

Wilier was born in 1906, from Pietro Dal Molin's desire to build high quality bicycles. His hub of "horses of steel" began as a small workshop along the Brenta river, in Bassano del Grappa, and grew rapidly, always keeping up with the growing demand for bicycles. For this reason, Dal Molin decided to found a professional team led by Giordano Cottur from Trieste, who was known for succeeding none other than Gino Bartali in the Bassano-Monte Grappa amateur race. At the same time, following the common feeling of unease for the fate of Trieste, Dal Molin decided to associate the name of the city of Trieste with that of his company. Thus, in the autumn of 1945, Wilier Triestina was born, distinguished by its copper-coloured red bicycles, which would later become a true trademark. On the strength of its success and thanks to the prestige acquired, in 1947 Wilier engaged a promising young cyclist: Fiorenzo Magni, who, instead of being crushed in the challenge between Coppi and Bartali, found the right way to become the third great protagonist of Italian cycling, winning the Tour of Flanders and the Giro d'Italia in 1948. Unfortunately, after the first ecstatic phase of national reconstruction, in the early 1950s, came the period of the economic miracle: people abandoned bicycles to discover scooters and motorbikes. Cycling companies suffered the damage of progress, and in 1952 Wilier Triestina had to close down and give up racing. Today, the glorious history of this company and its "copper-coloured jewel" lives on thanks to the Gastaldello brothers from Rossano Veneto, who bought the Wilier Triestina brand in 1969. They are proud to bring back one of the most famous Italian cycling companies and to supply bicycles to dozens of Italian and foreign World Tour and Amateur teams. The latest glory was in September 2008, when Ballan won the world road championship in Varese on a Wilier, just ahead of his illustrious teammate Cunego. In the last decade, and especially since 2008 - thanks to the success of international cycling and new models, Wilier Triestina has continued to increase and consolidate its presence on the international market, with double-digit growth in terms of turnover and bicycles produced.