During this 99th edition of Giro d’Italia, Vincenzo Nibali, winner of the Corsa Rosa in 2013, will ride a updated version of his Shark Tarmac.

“The design direction for the 2016 Nibali Shark Bike was to do something a little more organic. Taking cues from Mother Nature, I wanted to bring in the power and the energy of the ocean combined with traditional core race elements that is S-Works. We decided early on that adding more black to the bike would keep it aggressive. The design at its core needed to look fast, clean & ultimately reflect the athlete,” said Joe Lynch, Senior Graphic Designer at Specialized.

On the top tube, there is a Triple Crown representing the three Grand Tour victories achieved by the Italian rider during the last few years. Vuelta a España in 2010, Giro d’Italia in 2013, and Tour de France in 2014. The idea is to both inspire Nibali to victory again, and to celebrate his remarkable achievements.

Directly under the top tube is Nibali’s new logo, “The Shark”. It is a tribal design that includes the name of the triple champion and the colors that represent his greatest victories – red, pink and yellow. This is the logo that now accompanies the Sicilian rider since it was unveiled in late 2014.

“It reminds me the sea of my region and gives me a sense of rapidly moving water.” says Vincenzo Nibali. “I also like the three stylized icons representing my three main successes. I am really happy about the final design. I’ll be happy to ride it for the rest of the season.”

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