Colnago C40 Mapei Team Bike Fornaciari

When Ernesto released the Colnago C40 he started a revolution.
Before, carbon fibre has been seen as the future of cycling and there have been loads of experiments going on since the 1970s. But to that point no carbon fibre bike proved so safe and light at the same time, that it was suitable as a professional team bike. Well constructed enough to equally compete in the mountains and the classics of Flanders.

1994, to celebrate the company's 40th birthday, the C40 was first presented to the public. A construction of profiled carbon fibre tubes, fitted together by well proportioned carbon fibre lugs and steered with a high tech steel fork.
And it became available in an unbelievable amount of paint schemes. All paintjobs were carried out by hand and found the company some extra fame.

However, the frame had yet to prove that it was capable of being a threat to the aluminium and steel bikes in the hard races pro teams have to attend.
Ernesto outfitted the Team Mapei as the first squad to race his prestigeous machine. They proved that the bike was capable of coping with the roughest conditions. And how they did!

Mapei's Franco Ballerini won the 1995 Paris-Roubaix and suddenly everybody was aware of the fact that the demise of Aluminium frames might have begun. The next year ultimately made the frame a legend, when Johan Museeuw, Andrea Tafi and Gianluca Bortolami crossed the line at the Roubaix velodrome as first second and third of the race.
As if this would not have been phenomenal enough, Team Mapei repeated the triple in 1998 and 1999.

1999 is also the year that Paolo Fornaciari joined the Team, then already called Team Mapei Quickstep. It is he from whom we got this bike personally. When finishing his career on wheels, he eventually opened an ice cream parlor which he named Gelateria Ultimo Kilometro, 'the last kilometer', where cyclists can have a refreshing stop on their training rides.
We left his bike as untouched as possible, so you will find everything set up the way he liked to ride it.
So you have the rare chance to get hold of one of the most iconic professional team bikes of the 1990s.
This C40 MK2 Team Mapei Quickstep can be yours!