Site visit: Pirelli on tradition and high-performance
In 2017, Pirelli made a comeback in the bicycle industry. Seven years later, the Italian tyre specialist is right at the heart of the action, having firmly re-established itself, especially in the racing scene. This was reason enough for Cycling Industry News contributor Werner Müller-Schell to take a look behind the scenes.
It’s rare in Italy for the yellow jersey from the Tour de France to overshadow the pink one from the Giro d’Italia, but in the first days of last year’s July, that’s precisely what happened. The reason for this, from a cycling perspective, rather unusually colourful display was the visit of the Tour de France. For the first time in its 121-year history, the biggest bicycle race in the world began on Italian soil. A total of three stages took place in Italy, leading the peloton from Florence via Rimini, Bologna, and Turin toward France.
However, the Grand Depart in Italy was not only a highlight for the spectators. They also provided a unique opportunity for the Italian bicycle industry to showcase itself at the world’s biggest cycling race. “Of course, it’s special when the Tour comes to Italy – the land of the Giro d’Italia. For us as a company, it’s even more so, as the Tour’s start is practically a home game,” confirmed Samuele Bressan, Head of Global Marketing at Pirelli’s bicycle division, at the beginning of our visit to the Pirelli plant in Bollate. We met him the day before the Tour’s start for a factory tour. Bollate, a suburb of Milan, is home to the heart of Pirelli’s bicycle tire production.
Pirelli in Figures
Indeed, the Tour de France peloton passed Milan, the city that has served as Pirelli’s headquarters for more than 150 years, at a distance of just 30 kilometres. Established in 1872 by Giovanni Battista Pirelli as a rubber goods factory, the company initially produced bicycle tires, undersea cables, and telegraph wires. By 1901, it had entered the car tire market, ultimately becoming one of the largest tire manufacturers in the world. Pirelli now produces 74 million car tires annually from 18 factories across 12 countries. The company employs over 31,000 people globally and recently reported a turnover of €6.7 billion.
While Bressan acknowledged that the bicycle division is a minor part of the overall business, he confirmed that its importance has steadily grown over the last few years. Thus, from the very start of our visit to the Pirelli factory, it became clear how significant it is for the bicycle industry when a company of this magnitude decides to invest in cycling.
Pirelli Bicycle Tire Production in Bollate
This is especially significant as the Italians only resumed manufacturing bicycle tires in 2017 after decades away. Their range includes road, mountain bike, gravel, and city tires, all bearing the iconic yellow-red logo with the elongated “P.” As part of their return, Pirelli has established one of the world’s most advanced bicycle tire production facilities in Bollate. According to Luca Sartori, the factory’s quality manager, it is the only facility producing bicycle tyres “Made in Italy” on an industrial scale. At full capacity, the plant can produce up to 1.5 million bicycle tires annually.
Next, Bressan and a team of colleagues led us through the production floors in Bollate. The production process is centred around a main corridor where the tyres, with all their components, are assembled and then vulcanized. Along the sides of the corridor are areas for the semi-finished products, with the machinery divided into two groups: one for preparing the textile components and the other for the treads. “The entire process is automated and safe,” Sartori explains, adding, “At the end, there is quality control, where the tires are inspected from every angle. This step is performed manually to ensure every detail is checked.”
Sustainability Meets High-Tech: The “P Zero Race TLR RS”
During our tour of the production facilities, we also discussed the “P Zero Race TLR RS,” a tubeless-ready road tire used by the Lidl-Trek WorldTeam in the Tour de France. According to Pirelli, it is the world’s first bicycle tyre made with FSC-certified natural rubber. This latest development from the Italian company aims to demonstrate that high-quality bicycle tire production can be made more sustainable.
Interesting fact: since 2024, the entire Formula 1 tire range – Pirelli has been the official tire supplier to the world’s premier motorsport series since 2011 – includes FSC-certified natural rubber. “Our experience in Formula 1 proves that environmental protection can and must go hand in hand with safety and top performance,” Chief Technical Officer Piero Misani emphasises. Bressan later adds another interesting fact: the same research and development team works across all product lines, meaning bicycle and Formula 1 tires are designed with the same expertise.
Tradition Meets High-Performance Sports
The Formula 1 connection also marks the final stop on our tour of Pirelli’s facilities. After the factory visit, we head to the company’s headquarters in the heart of Milan, where motorsport is omnipresent—complete with original race cars displayed in the lobby. Interestingly, Bressan shares that designing a high-end road bike tire is often more complex than crafting a Formula 1 tire, primarily due to its significantly smaller size. For example, certain tire components on a bicycle are less than a millimetre thick.
This brings us back to the central theme of our visit to the Italian tire specialist: the Tour de France start in Italy, which took place the very next day. Here, Pirelli also played a key role at the sport’s highest level as they are the official supplier for the WorldTeam Lidl-Trek. Therefore, the takeaway from our factory visit was more than obvious: With over 150 years of history, a prominent position in global elite sports, and its status as one of Italy’s largest companies, it confirmed that Pirelli is a true asset to the bicycle industry.
Pirelli Bike Tyres are distributed to the UK and Irish cycle trade via Extra UK.
Werner Müller-Schell