Description
Beautiful, 100% original, vintage Gianni Motta racing bicycle from 1978 measuring 52 x 53.5 equipped with the first complete 6-speed Dura Ace Shimano groupset. launched on the market in 1973. It is a truly unique piece due to how perfectly preserved it is.
Photos of the Dura Ace 1973 and the story of its birth
Gianni Motta:
He buys a bike used by Ernesto Colnago in installments and races with Faema among the amateurs. And he wins: 64 victories, he turns professional at 21 years old. In 1964 he won a stage in the Giro, other important races, and above all the Giro di Lombardia, solo. In 1965 he established himself in a Six Days paired with the Belgian Van Steenbergen: it could have been the year of the consecration of a young champion, but a car accident at the Tour of Romandie prevented him from aiming to win the Giro d'Italia. Victory in the national competition came the following year. The favorite was Adorni, but he went into crisis in the Maddalena stage. Motta takes the rose and fends off the attacks of a strong climber, Jimenez.
Then other victories will come, but also other problems, especially a femoral iliac artery that wasn't working as it should have. Career is compromised. Motta won a lot, but he could have won more and competed on equal terms with his great opponents, who went by the names of Eddy Merckx and Felice Gimondi, to name just two. Among Gianni Motta's records are the victories at the Tre Valli Varesine, three editions in a row (from 1965 to 1967) and that of 1970.
After cycling, the Lombard runner undertook many activities including building bicycles.
