Cervélo

{{Infobox company

| name = Cervélo Cycles Inc.

| logo = Cervelo logo.svg

| logo_size = 250px

| type = Subsidiary

| parent = Pon Holdings

| slogan =

| foundation = {{Sda|1995}}

| founder = Gerard Vroomen
Phil White

| location = Aliso Viejo, California, U.S.{{Cite web|url=https://canadiancyclist.com/industry.php?id=35326&title=cervelo-to-move-hq-to-california|title=Headquarters|date=May 12, 2021}}

| key_people =

| industry = Bicycles

| products = Bicycles and related components

| revenue = CAN$11,100,000 (est.) (2004){{cite news |url=http://www.canadianbusiness.com/article/12975--beat-china-on-quality-cerv-eacute-lo-cycles-bets-on-premium-design-to-win |title=Beat China On Quality: Cervélo cycles bets on premium design to win | CanadianBusiness.com |first=Zena |last=Olijnyk |work=canadianbusiness.com |date=January 9, 2006 |access-date=July 5, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401092959/http://www.canadianbusiness.com/article/12975--beat-china-on-quality-cerv-eacute-lo-cycles-bets-on-premium-design-to-win |archive-date=April 1, 2012 |url-status=dead }}

| num_employees =

| homepage = {{URL|http://www.cervelo.com/}}

}}

File:2010 Cervelo RS 01.jpg

File:Dimension Data bicycles.jpg.]]

Cervélo Cycles Inc. is a manufacturer of racing and track bicycles.{{Cite web |title=Common Questions About Cervélo Bikes |url=https://www.cervelo.com/en-US/faq |access-date=2024-02-11 |website=www.cervelo.com |language=en-US}} Cervélo uses CAD, computational fluid dynamics, and wind tunnel testing at a variety of facilities including the San Diego Air and Space Technology Center, in California, US, to aid its designs. Frame materials include carbon fibre. Cervélo currently{{when|date=January 2022}} makes 5 series of bikes: the C series and R series of road bikes, the latter featuring multi-shaped, "Squoval" frame tubes; the S series of road bikes and P series of triathlon/time trial bikes, both of which feature airfoil shaped down tubes; and the T series of track bikes.{{Cite web |url=http://www.cervelo.com/en_us/bikes/2010/ |title=Cervélo Web site |access-date=2010-03-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120706112456/http://www.cervelo.com/en_us/bikes/2010/ |archive-date=2012-07-06 |url-status=dead }} In professional competition, cyclists have ridden Cervélo bicycles to victory in all three of road cycling's grand tours: the Tour de France;{{Cite web|date=2008-07-27|title=Tour de France champ rides to win on Canadian bike|url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/tour-de-france-champ-rides-to-win-on-canadian-bike-1.311622|access-date=2021-09-12|website=CTVNews}} the Giro d'Italia;{{Cite web|first=Curtis |author=Gillespie|date=2012-07-09|title=Inside Cervélo: the Canadian maker of some of the world's fastest bikes|url=https://www.macleans.ca/economy/business/a-tour-de-force/|access-date=2021-09-12|website=Macleans.ca}} and the Vuelta a España.{{Cite web|first=Patrick |last=Fletcher|date=2021-09-05|title=Primož Roglič wins the Vuelta a España|url=https://www.cyclingnews.com/races/vuelta-a-espana-2021/stage-21/results/|access-date=2021-09-12|website=cyclingnews.com}} In 2023, Cervélo achieved a historic sweep of all three grand tours in a single year.{{Cite web|first=Will|last=Tracy|date=2023-12-15|title=Cervélo Drops Super Limited Grand Tour Edition S5 to Celebrate Jumbo-Visma’s Historic Season Sweep|url=https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-gear/cervelo-drops-super-limited-grand-tour-grand-slam-edition-s5-to-celebrate-jumbo-vismas-historic-season/|access-date=2024-08-02|website=velo.outsideonline.com}}

History

Gerard Vroomen, one of the two founders of the company, started researching bike dynamics at the Eindhoven University of Technology. He took his knowledge to Canada to continue the research in McGill University under the supervision of Prof. Larry Lessard. In 1995, Vroomen and Phil White founded Cervélo Cycles. The name Cervélo is a portmanteau of cervello, the Italian word for brain, and vélo, the French word for bike.

In May 2011,{{Cite web|url=https://gerard.cc/2011/12/07/customer-service/|title=Customer service|date=December 7, 2011}} Vroomen sold his stake in Cervélo to pursue new projects,[https://twitter.com/gerardvroomen @gerardvroomen Twitter self-description: "Now working on new projects." (Accessed 2011/11/25.)] although he is nominally still involved with the company at the board level.{{Cite web|url=https://gerard.cc/cervelo/|title=Cervélo|date=May 19, 2011}} Cervélo is now owned by Pon Holdings, a Dutch company that also owns Gazelle, and Derby Cycle. The company makes or has marketing rights to bicycles from Raleigh, Kalkhoff, Univega, Focus Bikes, Ghost, and Santa Cruz Bicycles.{{cite news |title= Cervélo's White: We can grow by delivering |url= http://www.bicycleretailer.com/news/newsDetail/6502.html |author= Steve Frothingham |publisher= Bicycle Retailer and Industry News |date= February 19, 2012 |access-date= February 25, 2012}}

A book titled, To Make Riders Faster, by Anna Dopico, was released in April 2018. The book tells the story of Gerard Vroomen and Phil White meeting at McGill University and taking their company from a school basement project in Montreal, Canada, to their bikes winning in the Tour de France, the Olympics and Ironman.{{Cite web |last=Slowtwitch.com |title=To Make Riders Faster |url=https://www.slowtwitch.com/Products/Books/To_Make_Riders_Faster_7133.html/http://www.slowtwitch.com/Products/Books/To_Make_Riders_Faster_7133.html |access-date=2024-01-04 |website=Slowtwitch.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=New book examines how Cervélo disrupted the industry |url=https://www.bicycleretailer.com/new-products/2018/11/13/new-book-examines-how-cerv%C3%A9lo-disrupted-industry |access-date=2024-01-04 |website=Bicycle Retailer and Industry News |language=en}}

Professional sport

Cervélo's sponsorship of elite athletes has led to widespread recognition of the brand.

In 2003, Cervélo became the bike supplier to Team CSC, at the time the 14th team on the world ranking. Aside possibly from LeMond Bicycles and their collaborations with Merlin Metalworks{{Cite web|url=http://mombatbicycles.com/MOMBAT/BikeHistoryPages/Merlin.html|title=MOMBAT: Merlin Bicycles History|website=mombatbicycles.com}} and Calfee Design,{{Cite web|url=https://calfeedesign.com/calfee-history/|title = Calfee History – Calfee Design}} Cervélo may have been the smallest and youngest bike company to ever supply a team at this level. Team CSC was crowned the world's #1 pro cycling team aboard Cervélo for three years. The partnership lasted for six years, until the end of 2008.

In 2009, Cervélo became the first bike manufacturer in the modern era to have its own cycling team at the highest levels of racing, Cervélo TestTeam. The team had a stated goal of not only competing successfully on the international level, but also encouraging collaboration between the team members, Cervélo, and other product sponsorship partners in order to develop better products.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bikeradar.com/features/interview-cervelo-co-founder-phil-white/|title=Interview: Cervelo co-founder Phil White|website=BikeRadar}} There was also a strong focus on fan interaction and experiences. The team's most renowned riders were 2008 Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre and 2010 World Champion and 2009 TdF Green Jersey winner Thor Hushovd. Heinrich Haussler also took many of the team's headlines, with his impressive performances at Paris–Nice, Milan–San Remo, and his stage win in the 2009 Tour de France (Stage 13, Colmar).

In 2010, Emma Pooley and Thor Hushovd won the UCI Women's Timetrial and UCI Men's Road Race respectively. Success was also achieved in a number of ITU Triathlon Races and the Ironman 70.3 and long-distance events.

For the 2011 season, Cervélo joined forces with Slipstream sports to form the Garmin–Cervélo team, which also included a women's team. This partnership lasted until the end of the 2014 season.

For the 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 season, they provided bikes to MTN-Qhubeka that turned into Team Dimension-Data for Qhubeka in 2016.

For the 2021 season, Cervélo began a partnership with Team Jumbo–Visma, supplying bicycles that were ridden to victory in the 2021 and 2023 Vuelta a España, the 2022 and 2023 Tour de France, as well as the 2023 Giro d'Italia, while also adding a gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics and a rainbow jersey at the 2022 UCI Road World Championships. Additional they won the 2022 and 2023 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, 2022 Paris–Nice, 2023 Tirreno–Adriatico, 2023 Volta a Catalunya, 2023 E3 Saxo Bank Classic, 2023 Dwars door Vlaanderen, 2021 and 2023 Tour of the Basque Country, 2021 Amstel Gold Race, 2022 and 2023 Critérium du Dauphiné,

International racing success

Image:Ivan Basso 2005 TdF Stage 20 St Etienne ITT.jpg Ivan Basso of CSC riding his Cervélo P3C time-trial bicycle during stage 20 (ITT) of the 2005 Tour de France.]]

In 2006 Team CSC rider Fabian Cancellara won Paris–Roubaix{{Cite news |agency=Press Association |date=2010-04-11 |title=Fabian Cancellara cruises to Paris-Roubaix victory |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2010/apr/11/fabian-cancellara-paris-roubaix |access-date=2024-01-08 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} on a Cervelo R3. In 2007 Team CSC rider Stuart O'Grady won Paris–Roubaix on a Cervelo R3.{{Cite web |title=www.cyclingnews.com presents 2007 pro bikes |url=http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/tech/2007/probikes/?id=ogrady_paris_roubaix |access-date=2024-01-08 |website=autobus.cyclingnews.com}}

On 13 October 2007 triathlete Chrissie Wellington of the UK won the Ford Ironman world championship in Kailua-Kona, HI. Her bike in the 180 km ride was the Cervélo P2C{{Cite web|url=http://www.cervelo.com/bikes.aspx?bike=P2C2008|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080911020854/http://www.cervelo.com/bikes.aspx?bike=P2C2008|url-status=dead|title=Cervélo P2C Info|archivedate=September 11, 2008}} with which she posted the quickest split time [for pro women] of 5:06:15; four minutes faster than her nearest opponent.

On 27 July 2008, Carlos Sastre of Spain won the Tour de France on Soloist SLC-SL and R3-SL Cervélo framesets. It was Cervélo's first Tour win.{{Cite web|url=http://tsn.ca/other_sports/story/?id=244570&lid=sublink07&lpos=headlines_main|website=TSN.ca|title=report of Sastre's win}}

From 2003 to 2008, Cervélo enjoyed the partnership with team CSC/Saxobank with whom they achieved a number of wins on the professional racing circuit. Wins from Fabian Cancellara in the UCI World Timetrial championships, Olympic road and timetrial podium finishes for both Fabian Cancellara and tradeteam teammate Gustav Erik Larsson. In addition to these high-profile victories, Cervélo bikes were also ridden to overall success in the Tour de France team classification and ProTour team classifications.

Cervélo are one of the few manufacturers who have produced an aluminium frame that achieved success against carbon fibre road bicycles, with the Soloist. The Cervelo Soloist Team from the 2003–2005 UCI ProTour season was ridden to success by Team CSC in some of the historical cycling races held in Europe, such as the Critérium International and the Paris–Nice stage race. The Soloist Carbon from the 2006–2007 UCI ProTour season was ridden to success in the Giro d'Italia.

Cervélo are the only manufacturer to produce an aero-road frame (Soloist) that has won on the cobbled road race classics, with additional wins from the S-series bicycles notably in the 2009 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and 2010 Tour de France (Stage 3) by Thor Hushovd.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8wYRfnU9Rs|title=- YouTube|website=www.youtube.com}}

In 2011, Garmin–Cervélo rode the updated (BBright bottom bracket and tapered head tube) R3 frame in the cobbled classics, with Johan Van Summeren winning Paris–Roubaix.

Today, Cervélo is the world's largest manufacturer of time trial and triathlon bikes{{Citation needed|date=July 2011}}, as determined in industry counts including decisive wins for the past fifteen{{Cite web|url=https://www.triathlete.com/events/ironman/kona-bike-count-did-cervelo-reign-again/|title=Kona Bike Count: Did Cervélo Reign Again?|date=October 12, 2019}} years at the prestigious Kona bike count. The winner of the 2008 Tour de France, Carlos Sastre, did so on a Cervélo. At the Beijing Olympics Cervélo bikes were ridden by over forty Olympic athletes, resulting in three Gold, five Silver and two Bronze medals – a record.{{Cite web |url=http://www.cervelo.com/en_us/company/history |title=Cervelo History |access-date=2011-01-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110102193615/http://www.cervelo.com/en_us/company/history/ |archive-date=2011-01-02 |url-status=dead }} In 2011, the Cervélo S3 received numerous awards from cycling publications including being selected as Editors' Pick in VeloNews' Aero Road Bike Test and Best Race Bike in the Bicycling Magazine Editors' Choice Awards.

Models

=Soloist=

The Cervélo Soloist is the brand's all-round road bike. Representing a balance in aerodynamics, weight, and price.{{Cite web |title=Cervélo Cycles |url=https://www.cervelo.com/en-US |access-date=2024-03-04 |website=www.cervelo.com |language=en-US}}

=R-Series=

The Cervélo R-Series is the brand's climbing road bike. The R5 is the lightest of the brand's road offerings.

=S-Series=

The Cervélo S-Series is the brand's aerodynamic road bike. The S5 is the most aerodynamic of the brand's road offerings.

=P-Series=

The Cervélo P-Series is the brand's time trial and triathlon bike series.

=T-Series=

The Cervélo T-Series is the brand's track bike.

colspan=4\| Road	Time trial / Triathlon	Track !Gravel !Cyclocross !Mountain !E-Bike
class="wikitable"
Soloist	R-Series	S-Series	C-Series	P-Series	T-Series !Áspero !CX !Z-Series !Rouvida
{{font color\|red\|Soloist}}{{refn\|group=N\|name=NLM\|No longer made.}} {{font color\|red\|Soloist Carbon}}{{refn\|group=N\|name=NLM\|No longer made.}} {{font color\|red\|Soloist Team}}{{refn\|group=N\|name=NLM\|No longer made.}}	RS R2 R3 / R3d R5/R5D RCA	{{font color\|red\|S1}}{{refn\|group=N\|name=NLM\|No longer made.}} S2 S3 / S3d S5	C2 C3 C5	{{font color\|red\|P1}}{{refn\|group=N\|name=NLM}} P2 P3 P3X {{font color\|red\|P4}}{{refn\|group=N\|name=NLM}} P5-threeUCI compliant variant P5-sixTriathlon variant P5X	{{font color\|red\|T1}}{{refn\|group=N\|name=NLM}} T3 T4 T5GB \|Áspero Áspero-5 \|R5-CX \|ZHT-5 ZFS-5 \|Rouvida
colspan=6\|{{reflist\|group=N}} \| \| \| \|

Awards, sponsorship and victories

=Awards=

;2016

:Gran Fondo Design & Innovation Award: Cervélo S5 DA DI2{{Cite web|url=https://granfondo-cycling.com/design-innovation-award-winners-2016/|title = Design & Innovation Award Winners 2016|date = 11 March 2016}}

;2018

:Red Dot Design Award: Cervélo P5X{{Cite web|url=https://www.red-dot.org/project/cervelo-p5x-23044-23044|title = Red Dot Design Award: Cervélo P5X}}

:220 Triathlon: Bike Brand of the Year{{Cite web|url=https://www.220triathlon.com/news/220-triathlon-awards-2018-meet-the-winners/|title = 220 Triathlon Awards 2018: Meet the winners!}}

:VeloNews Gear Awards 2018 | For the speed demon: Cervélo S5{{Cite web|url=https://www.velonews.com/gear/velonews-gear-awards-2018-bikes-of-the-year/|title = VeloNews Gear Awards 2018: Bike(s) of the year|date = 7 December 2018}}

=Sponsorship=

: Team CSC (2003–2008){{Cite web|first=James|last=Huang|date=2008-08-27|title=Cervélo forms TestTeam, part ways with CSC|url=https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cervelo-forms-testteam-part-ways-with-csc/|access-date=2021-08-30|website=cyclingnews.com}}

: CSC–Saxo Bank (2008)

: Cervélo TestTeam (2009–2010)

: Team Garmin−Cervélo (2011){{Cite web|date=2010-08-27|title=Garmin and Cervelo to be Garmin-Cervelo in 2011|url=https://www.velonews.com/news/road/press-release-garmin-and-cervelo-to-be-garmin-cervelo-in-2011/|access-date=2021-08-30|website=VeloNews.com}}

: Team Garmin−Barracuda (2012)

: Garmin−Sharp (2012–2014)

: MTN–Qhubeka (2015){{Cite web|date=2014-07-22|title=Cervelo, Rotor partner with MTN-Qhubeka for 2015|url=https://www.velonews.com/news/road/cervelo-rotor-partner-mtn-qhubeka-2015/|access-date=2021-08-30|website=VeloNews.com}}

: Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka (2016–2018)

: Team Sunweb (2019–2020){{Cite web|title=team-announcement|url=https://www.cervelo.com/en/team-announcement|access-date=2021-08-30|website=www.cervelo.com}}

: Team Jumbo–Visma (2021-2023){{Cite web|date=2020-10-19|title=Jumbo-Visma to ride Cervélo bikes in 2021|url=https://cyclingmagazine.ca/sections/news/jumbo-visma-to-ride-cervelo-bikes-in-2021/|access-date=2021-08-30|website=Canadian Cycling Magazine}}

: Visma-Lease a Bike (2024-current){{Cite web|title=The Cervélo Difference|url=https://www.teamvismaleaseabike.com/partners/cervelo/|access-date=2025-06-12|website=Visma-Lease a Bike}}