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Alonso On His Bike

Topics: Fernando Alonso

Alonso On His Bike

Geoff Maxted
DriveWrite
September 12, 2013

You may know nothing of the arcane mysteries of the human-powered two wheeled world, but you can’t help but have noticed a hardy band of skinny, lycra clad, whippet-like men and women hurtling around our highways and byways on bicycles.

For some reason the sport of cycling can’t quite get a grip of our Nation’s imagination. Certainly it is very popular and it’s on TV from time to time and yet…? Even when the circus that is the Tour de France visited these shore a few years back and two million folk lined the route to support it, it didn’t really have a knock-on effect.

You can’t blame the weather because the Dutch and the Danes are hard at it, peddling away in climates just like ours. DriveWrite has to confess to a slight vested interest being a former devotee of - and writer on - the world of mountain biking, although with no discernable talent for it whatsoever. Thus I now support the benefits of cycling as well as being a car lover.

And it seems I am not alone because no less a luminary than the great Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso loves the sport of cycling so much he has bought a top professional team - that’s him time-trialling in the image. He has saved the Basque Country based Euskaltel-Euskadi team from disbandment at a time when road racing is suffering from a distinct lack of major sponsorship.

You can’t help but wonder if a little bit of Ferrari magic won’t rub off. Certainly, Alonso has a personal contract with Italian bike manufacturer Colnago and this has surely influenced his decision. Running a pro bike team is hugely expensive and Fernando is using his own money but you can’t help wondering if a prancing horse might make an appearance.

All professional cycle teams have a fleet of cars in support of the riders. As great as it might be to see some bright red FF’s behind the peloton, festooned with bikes and mechanics, it is more likely that parent company Fiat will come across with some motors.

Whatever, it’s good to see the sporting divisions of two modes of transport that are often at loggerheads with each other joining forces to promote both. Driving is great. So is cycling. Let’s hope they work well together. This might be more portentous than you’d think because come the end of 2014 F1 season when the two totally opposite Ferrari pilots are at each other’s throats, we know that at least one of them has another job to go to. STOP PRESS: Santander will be one of the sponsors next year. Curious that they also sponsor Ferrari!