{"id":178138,"date":"2025-09-29T16:58:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T16:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/178138\/"},"modified":"2025-09-29T16:58:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T16:58:12","slug":"the-story-behind-one-of-cyclings-iconic-teams-rouleur-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/178138\/","title":{"rendered":"The story behind one of cycling’s iconic teams\n\u2013 Rouleur"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was first published in\u00a0Issue 138<\/a>\u00a0of Rouleur<\/p>\n

There are places where history can be felt in the air, and Milan\u2019s Jamaica Bar is one of them. It was opened in 1911 as a simple wine shop serving wine and home-cooked meals. From the 1940s, it became a gathering place for artists and intellectuals, thanks to its proximity to the Brera Academy, a fine arts school. Among its regulars were Nobel Prize winning poet Salvatore Quasimodo, poet Giuseppe Ungaretti, artist Lucio Fontana \u2013 famous for his \u2018slashes\u2019 on canvas \u2013 and photographer Ugo Mulas, who documented the Milanese art scene in the middle of the 20th century.<\/p>\n

At one of the outdoor tables, Mario Molteni carefully lays out a series of photographs that tell the story of his family: his grandfather Pietro, his parents Ambrogio and Olga, and his sister Pierangela. And of the all-conquering cycling team that, for 18 years, carried their name.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, even though the Molteni team no longer exists, it still holds the record for the most wins by a single-sponsored professional team: 663 races,\u201d says Molteni, glancing at his wife Cristina, who is seated across from him.<\/p>\n

The Molteni story begins in 1958, when Pietro, a meat entrepreneur, created a professional cycling team. That team, bearing his name, left a mark on postwar cycling, not only because the brand was present on riders\u2019 jerseys from 1958 to 1976, but also due to its consistent results.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen my grandfather founded the team, he chose the colours based on the company\u2019s delivery trucks: camel and blue. They were never changed. They always remained the same \u2013 unmistakable,\u201d he continues, as waiters begin setting tables for lunch around them.<\/p>\n

There are stories that can be told in reverse \u2013 starting at the end. The Molteni story is one of them. Today there is no team, but its legacy is still very much alive.<\/p>\n

\"Molteni\"
\nCycling as social commitment<\/p>\n

Mario Molteni and his sister Pierangela created the Ambrogio Molteni Foundation, which supports young athletes whose careers were interrupted or compromised by accidents, as well as former professionals facing financial hardship or serious injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2018, my sister and I decided to create the Foundation in memory of our father,\u201d he explains. \u201cIt\u2019s entirely self-funded, and our goal is to offer tangible help to those who\u2019ve had less luck. We used to support basketball and football too, but the requests were overwhelming. So we decided to focus our resources where they were most needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Foundation was created both to preserve a family memory and to act on a vision of sport that doesn\u2019t stop at the finish line. Cycling is something fans carry inside them. You either love it, or you don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe launched the Foundation at RCS [the media group that organizes the Giro d\u2019Italia], inviting former team members like Gianni Motta, Michele Dancelli, Davide Boifava, and Eddy Merckx,\u201d he says. \u201cFelice Gimondi was there too \u2013 he was a family friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

A bright smile lights up his eyes. Mario Molteni\u2019s words aren\u2019t nostalgic \u2013 they reflect a sense of responsibility. A way to give back to a world that gave him so much.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn cycling, even those who fall behind deserve to be guided to the finish. That\u2019s the spirit that guides us,\u201d he says. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to host events or work with larger foundations. Too often, the funds don\u2019t reach the people who need them. We prefer a direct approach. Friends, commentators or people in the cycling community tell us about cases. We discuss them, and then we act. That\u2019s our mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

The project was officially presented in October 2018 at London\u2019s Olympic Velodrome in Stratford.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe chose the Six Day event, and a pair who weren\u2019t favourites \u2013 we wanted to start humbly, quietly,\u201d he recalls. \u201cWe invited the Italian press, too, to share the beginning of a journey that felt deeply personal. Since then, every year we try to keep the Molteni name alive by giving back to cycling a bit of what it gave us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Molteni is clear: the Molteni team name no longer has any commercial value. The family\u2019s charcuterie business, now in its fifth generation, operates under a different brand. Everything the Foundation does is non-profit and purely for solidarity.<\/p>\n

Most of the people the Foundation helps are unknown to the public, and their names are usually kept private.<\/p>\n

Recently, the Foundation supported Fabio and Chiara, two visually impaired teenagers from a small town in Lombardy. \u201cThey love cycling, and we\u2019re happy to help them. Training in tandem at the Montichiari velodrome takes money and planning. When you meet people like them, when you see their joy and zest for life, you realise how small our own problems are,\u201d he reflects.<\/p>\n

With support from the Italian Cycling Federation, the project offers concrete aid, like in the case of Samuele, a top junior rider whose promising career was halted by an accident.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Foundation gave him a handbike so he could keep training and aim for the Paralympics. The project later ended, but everyone has the right to choose their own path. That\u2019s okay,\u201d says Molteni.<\/p>\n

One phrase from Samuele stuck with him. \u201cWhen we first met him, he told us about the training ride when he was hit and lost the use of his legs. He said something we\u2019ll never forget: \u2018I still want to feel the wind on my cheeks.\u2019 Those words, said with such conviction, will stay with us forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Molteni poses an important concern: \u201cI wish cycling a prosperous future. But today, few kids ride bikes, and those few need support, guidance, encouragement\u2026 Cycling is a tough sport. It\u2019s hard to make it. But I\u2019ve always believed this: a kid who\u2019s been a rider, even if they quit, can do anything in life. The discipline, grit, and determination you gain on a bike \u2013 you take that with you everywhere.<\/p>\n

Whether you become a worker, truck driver or executive, the tenacity of a cyclist is hard to find elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Molteni\"
\nCycling from the team car<\/p>\n

Talk turns to how cycling was lived from the inside, in an era when the Giro d\u2019Italia was a national festival and always made headlines in\u00a0La Gazzetta dello Sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Giro was a celebration for fans, athletes and everyday people,\u201d says Molteni. \u201cYou were always on the move. In the morning, masseurs made sandwiches and filled bottles. After the race, riders washed themselves with a cloth in the car, then off to the hotel. There were even concerts and shows. It was what we\u2019d now call a media event \u2013 a national happening. It\u2019s still great today, but it\u2019s changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a kind of cycling light years away from today\u2019s hyper-technical, high-tech approach: \u201cThe jerseys were made of wool \u2013 they\u2019d get soaked and weigh a tonne,\u201d he adds. \u201cThey wore another layer underneath. No one complained. They used to say: \u2018If you don\u2019t like wind and rain, go play cards.\u2019 Before a descent, the masseur would hand riders a newspaper at a specific point, to keep warm. At the Giro, Molteni fielded 10 riders, two directors, two mechanics, and a retired guy driving the van. Today, teams like UAE travel with massive staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a coffee, Molteni recalls his childhood immersed in cycling, from the unique vantage point of the team car.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was lucky to live inside the team,\u201d he says. \u201cEven though it wasn\u2019t allowed, dad and grandpa brought me along. I spent days at the Giro and the Tour. I was in the car when Merckx won Milan-Sanremo, and again at Tre Cime di Lavaredo, during his last Giro win, when he held onto the pink jersey with just a 12-second lead over Baronchelli.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen a few stages since then, but I don\u2019t go as much any more.\u201d<\/p>\n

He picks out three photographs from a pile of black-and-white and colour prints, some glossy, some matte, some timeworn.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is from when I was little, in the car at the Six Days. This one is the day Merckx came to our house to sign his contract, in 1971. And this one is from when I was older \u2013 we visited Panini, the sticker company, to watch a race.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Molteni\"<\/p>\n

The story of an era<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just stories of champions and victories, but of daily life, human relationships, and little gestures that define a time. The team was like a big family, where every person, from mechanics to masseurs, played a key role.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my best memories is from a time trial in Forte dei Marmi,\u201d says Molteni. \u201cI went with my grandfather, and it was the only time we ever swam in a pool together, during a Giro stage. After swimming, we got gelato with the riders, mechanics, and staff. That\u2019s what stuck with me most \u2013 the human side. Like seeing the riders in their rooms, on the massage table. A view no one else had.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even the technical details tell stories: wheel changes in seconds, bottles handed off from the car.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember when riders came to the car asking for bottles. Or when De Rosa literally pulled me out of the car so he could hop out and change a wheel. I saw many wheel changes \u2013 back then, it took two seconds. Near the finish, De Rosa and Colnago were already out of the car with a spare bike. Today, with disc brakes, if you get a flat five kilometres from the finish and your car\u2019s not nearby, you\u2019re done. You won\u2019t catch up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back then, the connection between riders, mechanics, and builders was personal, almost family-like. But even then, there were rules, especially when buying bikes. \u201cYou had to buy your bikes. Whether it was Colnago or De Rosa, you paid. One year, Merckx had 47 bikes. Ugo De Rosa told me himself. I was close to his family \u2013 I\u2019d fall asleep in his lap during transfers. It was a real friendship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Big companies later changed cycling, with different financial models.<\/p>\n

\u201cCycling changed with Squinzi and Mapei. From then on, everything shifted. Before, single-sponsor teams paid for everything themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next to the table is the bike Merckx used in the 1974 World Championships. It still wears the team\u2019s colours. The blue handlebar tape is in good nick. His face appears on the frame, framed by the rainbow stripes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe brakes are drilled, the pedals have toe cages, the shifters are on the downtube. The worn saddle has a tag hanging from it, like in a museum. This is the bike Merckx used to win the Montr\u00e9al World Championship. The following year, he gifted it to Pope Paul VI, who then passed it to Cardinal Montini, a cycling fan. After his death, the bike returned to the family and was donated to the Ghisallo Museum, alongside bikes from Bartali and Coppi. It\u2019s a De Rosa, but that year, Merckx asked for a longer stem, which happened to be from Colnago. Nobody ever changed it. It\u2019s still just as it was. When you see it, you know you\u2019re looking at a piece of history. I loaded it into the car last night, very carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time to part ways. Mario Molteni gently gathers his photographs, like closing a family album. On the table lies a folded camel-and-blue jersey. On the collar is the rainbow. Unzipping it reveals a tiny tag: number one. Two small details that say everything.<\/p>\n

We leave the Jamaica Bar and are drawn toward the courtyard of the Brera Art Gallery, almost instinctively, before strolling into the heart of Brera, where galleries and boutiques line cobbled streets. Molteni pushes the bicycle by hand, as if it were the most natural gesture in the world. And even those passing by know: that bike is not just any bike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This article was first published in\u00a0Issue 138\u00a0of Rouleur There are places where history can be felt in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-178138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}