PARIGINA, 1996

An evolution of Miguel Indurain’s Hour record Espada, but one amputation away from pretty much being the bike thrown by Bjarne Riis in 1997 (see overleaf), this Parigina belonged to Andrea Collinelli, who rode it at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, USA.

‘We sponsored the Italian track team, and they rode with these Graeme Obree-style bars,’ says Fausto, referring to the outstretched ‘Superman’ position the Scot had pioneered and used to great effect to beat none other than Collinelli at the 1995 Track World Championships. It was therefore little surprise to see the Italian adopt the same position in 1996 and go on to take not only gold in the 4,000m individual pursuit but also the world record previously held by Obree, completing the distance in 4min 19.699sec. Their bikes could not have been more different, however – Obree’s was steel and homemade, while Collinelli’s was the absolute cutting edge of its day.

‘When we used the Paragina for Riis, the UCI ordered us to cut off the tail over the rear wheel to make the bike legal for road cycling. Of course a road bike needs a brake too, so Riis’s time-trial bike had to have a normal fork, but here there is a fairing over the front wheel.’

In fact, such are the aero lengths Pinarello went to that this Parigina has textured ‘trip strips’ running down the outside-front of the fork legs to help smooth airflow. It’s something you may have spotted before on older versions of the Ridley Noah. Not that Fausto will hear any of it.

‘Who had this on their bikes? When was that? Don’t ask me to say something, I can only say that it is my job to make the best bike, and this bike was 1996, and by

1998 the position and the frame style was illegal.’