PRICE: NOT FOR SALE – PERMANENT COLLECTION

Ah, Rigoberto Uran, the man with a name that sounds like a secret agent but pedals like a cycling maestro. Let’s take a delightful trip down memory lane to the 2009 season when Uran joined Team Sky, bringing a touch of Colombian flair to the British cycling squad.

Back then, Uran was conquering roads with the finesse of a salsa dancer on two wheels astride his Pinarello Dogma. Colombian salsa is known for its rapid and intricate footwork as well as the athletic lifts and tricks that are incorporated into their dancing. Sounds just like Uran’s racing style!

Fitted with Shimano Di2 components and a Dura-Ace wheelset, the Dogma 60.1 was like the James Bond of bicycles – smooth, sophisticated, and always ready for action. Making it even more awesome was the uber cool and exclusive SRM PowerMeter.  

So when the bike came up for sale here in Belgium, I just had to add it to my collection. There are actually a lot of ex-Sky pro team bikes floating around in Flanders as the team’s service course was located in Deinze near Ghent

In 2009, a year before the Team Sky partnership commenced, Pinarello decided to launch an all-new race bike. It called it the Dogma 60.1 and was an evolution of the Pinarello Prince, with a full carbon fibre frame and fork made from Torayca 60HM1K carbon and had a frame weight of just 950g.

The flowing fat tubes of the Dogma took a bit of getting used to, but more than ten years later the sculpted front and rear forks look very cool.  The frame’s styling kicked Pinarello’s previous Onda FP theme up a notch with the even curvier Onda FPX1.

The curves of the fork and seat stays were continued on to the main triangle which used a fairly traditional non-sloping geometry but with a slightly bowed top tube. The bike was designed around asymmetrical chain stays and seat tubes to offset inherent differences in how a rider typically applies force to a frame.

The Dogma would be constantly refined over the years, with higher grades of carbon fibre leading to lower frame weights, and the name reflected these changes. Following the original Dogma 60.1 was the Dogma 2 and the Dogma 65.1 Think 2 (a mouthful of a name) and it was this bike that Sir Bradley Wiggins won the 2012 Tour de France, a feat which Chris Froome repeated in 2013.

Over the years the Dogma name has grown to become almost a brand in its own right, so important is it to Pinarello that it’s the company’s main and best-selling bike. But sadly for me, the curvy Onda forks and stays disappeared after the release of the Pinarello Dogma F8 in 2014.

During the 2009 Dauphiné, Uran burst onto the scene like a cycling comet, claiming a stage victory. The Pinarello must have had some Colombian espresso in its water bottles that day. In a world of carbon frames and aero helmets, Uran’s grace, humility and talent has always shone through. His career has been a symphony of pedal strokes, Shimano clicks, and the occasional salsa beat.

So, here’s to Rigoberto Uran – the man who has been turning bike race into a fiesta on two wheels for more than two decades.

If you would like to hire the bicycle during a stay at the Flandrien Hotel, you can reserve it via our Classic Hire Rental service.