The family bearing the name of Eddy Merckx legendary team undertakes a charity project to support unlucky heroes of cycling.
Why London
An imaginary time machine wows the cycling fans as the iconic Molteni brand suddenly returns on the scene over forty years later. This happens at Queen Elisabeth Olympic Park where the Six Days of London starts, restoring the memory of the Italian food company’s brand over the suede-blue historical jersey that many champions brought victory for 18 years (from 1958 to 1976) – one above the rest, Eddy Merckx.
The choice to revive the past on this occasion was due to the wide international exposure of the Six Days of London. The velodrome setting is also significant, as the Molteni team’s superstars used to ride on track in winter, tallying more victories on the way to the road season.
Solidarity’s goal
The project developed in close cooperation with Six Days of London’s organizers has no commercial purposes: the Molteni brand has been off the grid for many years, and this return will not lead to any new sponsoring in sports on behalf of the Molteni family, whose unique goal is to remember Ambrogio Molteni and his commitment to cycling by unveiling a big charity initiative.
The Molteni family has started procedures to establish a permanent Foundation in the name of Ambrogio Molteni.
Mario and Pierangela Molteni, son and daughter of the team’s founder, were in London to announce the new project, due to start in early 2019.
Why doing a Foundation
The Foundation aims to bring real help to former professional cyclists struggling because of misfortunes, victims of disabling injuries or different troubles, while also supporting prospects whose careers were spoiled by serious crashes will be in the Foundation’s focus.
The new initiative will take shape with charity and fund-raising actions to bring a moral and financial relief to the people in distress.
“Sad stories of athletes down on their luck once their career is over are pretty common – Mario Molteni explains – regardless of the reason why; cycling is not an exception, even considering the hard consequences of crashes during races or training sometimes. Our family’s name has been relevant in cycling and we think our father would appreciate this strong will to help and support the less fortunate ones on the bike”.
The colors of myth
Dusting off Molteni brand and team’s corporate identity while keeping the graphic and colors unchanged give an historical meaning to what the family will pursue in cycling.
That’s why the Molteni brand shows at the Six Days of London over the Madison World Champions Roger Kluge and Theo Reinhardt rainbow jerseys, while the Brit pairing made by Adam Blythe and Jon Dibben wears the glorious Molteni kit with the unmistakable suede color that Ambrogio Molteni chose by taking the cue from his company’s trucks.
Molteni’s 18 successful years
Molteni is widely seen as the very first international top team in post-war professional cycling due to the longstanding brand exposure on the riders outfits (18 years, from 1958 to 1976) and the unequalled number of victories, 663.
Molteni colors accomplished their supremacy in every kind of competition, with the long Eddy Merckx domination – the Belgian wore the Molteni shirt for six seasons, from 1971 to 1976, claiming 246 wins only he – along with other top guns such as Rudy Altig, Gianni Motta, Michele Dancelli, Marino Basso.
A quick figures recap includes:
• 8 Grand Tours victories (4 Giro d’Italia, 3 Tour de France and 1 Vuelta a Espana) with 102 stage wins overall
• 23 national championships
• 15 “Monument” classics (3 Giro di Lombardia, 5 Milano-Sanremo, 5 Liege-Bastogne-Liege, 1 Paris-Roubaix, 1 Tour of Flanders)
• 3 Road World Championships (Altig 1966, Merckx 1971 and 1974)
• 1 hour record (Merckx 1972)
All in all, 124 riders wore the Molteni jersey throughout the whole 18-season period, 77 of whom were Italians.
London, October 23rd, 2018
