The 111th edition of the Tour de France started on 29 June 2024 in Florence, Italy.

48 hours previously at Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio, and fresh from his dominant May win at the Giro d’Italia, Tadej Pogačar arrived for UAE Team Emirates’ rider presentation on a previously unseen bicycle: the Colnago C68 Fleur-de-Lys No. 001/111.

Attention to detail, exquisite craftmanship, and cutting-edge technology have distinguished Colnago bicycles since the very start, and this limited edition bike for the 2024 Tour de France is no exception, expressing the savoir-faire and artistry of Italian manufacturing.

The Colnago C68 Fleur-de-Lys is a tribute to the culture and history that unite Italy and France, two central nations in the history of European and world culture. Not only the ‘high’ culture of the great philosophers and men of letters, painters and sculptors, but also its most common expressions, that ability to take the humblest things in life and make them works of art.

Colnago has interpreted this connection through a bike, the C68 Fleur-de-Lys, which features the fleur-de-lys as a key design element.

The French lily is serially reproduced on the top tube in gold on a Bleu de France coloured metal leaf field. This pattern - in addition to being a tribute to a recurring coat of arms in French royal iconography - echoes the pattern of the frescoes in the Sala dei Gigli, one of the most beautiful rooms in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, the venue for the presentation of the teams and the starting point of the first stage of the 2024 Tour de France.

Only 111 of these stunning models have been produced, with this one, Tadej’s bike—number 001/111—bearing its own unique features: for example, it is the only one whose iconic Colnago Ace of Clubs logo on the head tube is crafted from 18k yellow gold, and the NFC tag names Tadej Pogačar as its first owner.

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Image Credit: Sprint Cycling Agency

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Tadej Pogačar's Limited Edition Colnago "Fleur-de-Lys" No. 001/111

Tadej Pogačar's Limited Edition Colnago "Fleur-de-Lys" No. 001/111

Tadej Pogačar's Limited Edition Colnago "Fleur-de-Lys" No. 001/111