Cervélo Cycles is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 manufacturer of racing bicycle

Racing bicycle

A racing bicycle, also known as a road bike, is a bicycle designed for competitive road cycling, a sport governed by according to the rules of the Union Cycliste Internationale...

 frames. Cervélo uses CAD, computational fluid dynamics

Computational fluid dynamics

Computational fluid dynamics, usually abbreviated as CFD, is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical methods and algorithms to solve and analyze problems that involve fluid flows. Computers are used to perform the calculations required to simulate the interaction of liquids and gases with...

, and wind tunnel testing at a variety of facilities including the San Diego Air and Space Technology Center, in California, USA, to aid its designs. Frame materials include carbon fibre. Cervélo currently makes 3 series of road bikes: the R series, featuring multi-shaped, "Squoval" frame tubes; and the S series of road bikes and P series of triathlon/time trial bikes, both of which feature airfoil shaped down tubes. The company also manufactures T series track bikes.

History

Gerard Vroomen, one of the two original founders of the company, started researching bike dynamics at the Eindhoven University of Technology

Eindhoven University of Technology

The ' is a university of technology located in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The motto of the university is: Mens agitat molem . The university was the second of its kind in the Netherlands, only Delft University of Technology existed previously. Until mid-1980 it was known as the...

 (The Netherlands). He took his knowledge to Canada to continue the research in McGill University

McGill University

Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...

. 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 2011, Vroomen sold his stake in Cervélo to pursue new projects, although he is nominally still involved with the company at the board level.

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

Team CSC

Team Saxo Bank-SunGard is a professional cycling team from Denmark. It competes in the UCI ProTour. The team is owned and managed by former Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis, under the management of his company Riis Cycling. The sponsor is a Danish investment bank.Founded for 1998 Team home – Jack...

, at the time the 14th team on the world ranking. Cervélo was by far the smallest and youngest bike company to ever supply a team at this level. Team CSC has been 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

Cervélo TestTeam

Cervélo TestTeam is a former professional cycling team, whose license was held in Switzerland by the cycling management company Cycling United Racing. The team's title sponsor was Cervélo, a Canadian manufacturer of bicycle frames that previously exclusively supplied...

. 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. 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

Carlos Sastre

Carlos Sastre Candil is a retired Spanish professional road bicycle racer and champion of the 2008 Tour de France. Sastre rides in 2011 for UCI Professional Continental team...

 and 2010 World Champion and 2009 TdF Green Jersey

Green jersey

The green jersey is a term used in road bicycle racing and Grand Tour stage races in particular. The green jersey is a distinctive racing jersey worn by the leader in a subsidiary competition....

 winner Thor Hushovd

Thor Hushovd

Thor Hushovd is a Norwegian professional road bicycle racer riding . He has signed for from 2012 onwards. He is known for sprinting and time trialing and is the 2010 Norwegian and world road champion. He is the first Norwegian to lead the Tour de France, and first Scandinavian to win the road...

. Heinrich Haussler

Heinrich Haussler

Heinrich Haussler is an Australian road racing cyclist with German heritage. Haussler races for UCI ProTeam .-Early life:...

 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

2009 Tour de France

The 2009 Tour de France was the 96th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started on 4 July in the principality of Monaco with a individual time trial which included a section of the Circuit de Monaco...

 (Stage 13, Colmar).

In 2010, Emma Pooley

Emma Pooley

Emma Jane Pooley is an English professional cyclist and Olympic silver medallist currently riding for . Pooley was the 2010 World Time Trial Champion and is a former British Road Race and Time Trial Champion.-Biography:...

 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 have joined forces with Slipstream sports to form the Garmin-Cervélo team which also includes a women's team.

International success

On 13 October 2007 triathlete Chrissie Wellington

Chrissie Wellington

Christine Ann Wellington MBE , known as Chrissie Wellington, is an English triathlete and the current Ironman Triathlon World Champion...

 of the UK won the Ford Ironman world championship in Kailua-Kona, HI

Ironman Triathlon

An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation consisting of a swim, a bike and a marathon run, raced in that order and without a break...

. Her bike in the 180 km ride was the Cervélo P2C 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

Carlos Sastre

Carlos Sastre Candil is a retired Spanish professional road bicycle racer and champion of the 2008 Tour de France. Sastre rides in 2011 for UCI Professional Continental team...

 of Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 won the Tour de France

2008 Tour de France

The 2008 Tour de France was the 95th Tour de France. The event took place from 5–27 July 2008. Starting in the French city of Brest, the tour entered Italy on the 15th stage and returned to France during the 16th, heading for Paris, its regular final destination, which was reached in the 21st stage...

on SLC-SL and R3-SL Cervélo framesets. It was Cervélo's first Tour 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 where also ridden to overall success in the Tour de France team classification and ProTour team classifications. To view more of these wins please view the Team CSC/Saxobank page.

Cervélo are one of the few manufacturers who have produced an aluminium frame that achieved success against carbon fibre road bicycles. The Cervelo Soloist Team/S1 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 the Criterium International and the Paris-Nice stage race.

Cervélo are the only manufacturer to produce an aero-road frame that has won on the cobbled road race classics with wins from the S-series bicycles notably in the 2009 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and 2010 Tour de France (Stage 3) by Thor Hushovd.

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, as determined in industry counts including decisive wins for the past four 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. 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.