The recent and significant corporate development that has involved Group srl, the owner of two of the most historic and iconic Italian brands linked to the cycling world at the same time, such as Cinelli e Columbus, is starting to get going. In fact, today's news is that Walter De Luca, One of the most highly regarded managers in the industry has joined the Group family. De Luca will be able to oversee and develop, through his expertise and experience in sales and marketing, the Apparel and Accessories division.
New impetus
Cinelli and Columbus, strengthened in spirit and intent by the recent entry of the entrepreneur into a majority stake Victor Luis, American but originally from São Miguel in the Azores, are enriched by an additional resource.
A resource that thus confirms the course started with the aforementioned acquisition and the appointment of Marcello Segato as CEO. All this in continuity with the vision of Antonio Colombo, who remains a partner and artistic director of both brands.
«I'm going home. My first job was with Gran Ciclismo, the design shop of Cinelli "This is De Luca's first statement. This is how my career (which Antonio Colombo likes to call an adventure) in the world of cycling began. And today, once again with Antonio, I'm returning to the Group. The arrival of Victor Luis consolidates the existing structure and propels us towards new market and growth objectives. Sport, passion, and mania, which already dominated the Gran Ciclismo banner, remain and always will be my mantra."
De Luca: competence and passion
As anticipated, Walter De Luca is a very well-known name in the bike industry Industry. He knows cycling inside out, having even practiced it since he was seven years old. Grown up on the track, he was in fact an amateur until he was 21, the age at which he met Antonio Colombo who immediately wanted him with him to manage and develop the Gran Ciclismo. It was 1988 and the single-brand design stores of Cinelli in Milan and Viareggio. And it was Antonio Colombo who introduced De Luca to his second mentor, Maurizio Castelli, alongside whom he continued to work and grow for a good nine years, always straddling sales and product.
Subsequently, his professional history led him to Germany, in Gore Bike Wear, First as sales manager for Southern Europe, then for Europe, and then as sales leader for the entire world. Before returning to the Group, he also had a stint at Pinarello.
The management's welcome back
«Walter has been a point of reference for 30 years, even when we didn't work together – declared Antonio Colombo – We have always been accompanied by mutual respect and the same desire for adventure in the colourful circus of cyclingHe, a young track rider, the acrobats of two wheels as they are called, had and has the same talent needed to juggle the American markets as well as those in markets where the giants are not always the best."
"This is an important step for us," echoes Marcello Segato, the Group's new CEO, "having a figure like Walter at our side. His presence will make my mission to grow even more stimulating Cinelli and Columbus in the high-end world and capitalizing on a larger scale on the inventions that have marked its history."
