Vittoria is a brand which focuses all of its research and development into cycling. Simon Cox speaks to Bruno Tecci, Stijn Vriends and Vanessa ten Hoff from the Italian brand about the brand’s ethos and culture.
In the lead-up to the recent UCI Track World Championships Vittoria took to social media to boldly state: “We don’t make tyres or accessories for cars, trucks, or aeroplanes. All of our innovation, all of our sustainability efforts, and all of our passion go into cycling – and only cycling.”
Not much room for ambiguity here then.
Bruno Tecci, global marketing director at Vittoria points out: “We are a brand by cyclists, for cyclists, in every cycling discipline: from track to gravity, from niche disciplines to those enjoyed by the masses; from clean, polished, rarefied ones to those full of mud and dust – we know how to win in every one of these disciplines.”
In 2024, the business further extended its list of victories in road cycling and saw dominant performances for Vittoria shod riders in Cyclocross and the latest Gravel World Championships. This came following dozens of medals won in Paris, having already claimed the MTB World Cup in the toughest discipline for a tyre: the Marathon.
Tecci points out: “We count the victories of the pros in races because they’re easy to measure, but for us, these are just as important as the daily personal victories of the amateurs who follow us and show us so much love on social media, at events, and everywhere. These are communities passionate about cycling, just like we are.”
Speaking with Tecci, BikeBiz had the opportunity to pose a few questions to Vittoria chairman and CEO, Stijn Vriends, and chief innovation and marketing officer, Vanessa ten Hoff, exploring the ethos and the culture which delivers innovation and performance for a global business with an Italian heart.
Let’s open with that attention-grabbing opening statement: “Vittoria is a brand by cyclists, for cyclists – we don’t make tyres or accessories for cars, trucks, or aeroplanes”. What does it take to develop and deliver tyres ridden to victories across all disciplines?
Stijn Vriends: Certainly, a lot of dedication, focus, and a great effort in pushing the level of innovation a bit further each time. Then, a good dose of ‘nerdiness’ and meticulousness. But above all, an enormous passion for bicycles and cycling in general.
‘Performance’ today exists in the same sentence as ‘sustainability’ – how does Vittoria meet what would seem to be competing and conflicting needs?
Vanessa ten Hoff: “At Vittoria, we broke a taboo. It seemed impossible for performance and sustainability to coexist in a tyre. But we didn’t give in to this assumption. We pushed the entire company towards the future.
“After an intense two-year development process, we created the Terreno PRO T60 – a gravel tyre for mixed terrains made with 92% recycled or recyclable material, which is 10% faster than its previous version.”
Today Vittoria has a carbon-neutral factory in Thailand. How did that come to be? Where did this conversation start?
Vriends: “As a cycling brand, we could have buried our heads in the sand and continued to bask in the positive image generated by promoting cycling over internal combustion vehicles. But we know we’re part of the rubber industry, which is energy-intensive and has a significant emissions impact.
“That’s why, with large financial and emotional investments, we once again decided to veer off the beaten path and build the world’s first CarbonNeutral tyre factory. This is another significant and concrete step towards the future.”
How does manufacturing in Italy compare with manufacturing in Thailand? Sustainability decisions include the footprint generated when raw materials are shipped, driven or flown to a manufacturing facility, then on to markets as finished products.
ten Hoff: “There’s no difference in terms of product quality output. In Thailand, we can rely on a truly unique rubber expertise. The development collaboration between our Italian and Thai colleagues is total; we are one team. Furthermore, our factories in Thailand are located right where rubber is produced, practically at zero kilometres. This, therefore, helps with logistics.”
Will we see the technology and innovation that made the Terreno Pro T60 Mixed gravel tyre introduced across the wider Vittoria range?
Vriends: “In the second half of 2025, we will expand the Terreno gravel range with an entire line of PRO products. Like the Terreno PRO T60, they will have a cotton casing, be sustainable, and offer top performance in racing across all types of terrain. We started with gravel, but as I said before, we see the future in these products. Our R&D efforts are constant, and the three words that guide us are innovation, sustainability, and passion, all inseparably linked.”
Vittoria has its own test track, Vittoria Park, located alongside the Brembate Head Office: How does this play a part in the development and testing of new tyres?
ten Hoff: “Vittoria Park plays a fundamental role. It’s a large playground open to all cycling enthusiasts, but it’s also an integral part of Vittoria Labs (the most advanced bicycle tyre system research facility), which we’ll be opening at our HQ, following the ones in Thailand, at the end of October. We combine lab machine tests with field tests at the Park, and not only that – we also use telemetry testing to gather every possible data point for each prototype. Our goal remains: to make the most advanced bicycle tyre systems in the world.”
Talking with Tecci, he points out that: “With the 2024 UCI Track World Championships, yes, as proud Italians we cheer for the Italian national team. However, we also cheer for all the other national teams using Vittoria tyres. And even for those who don’t – in the end, we’re cheering for cycling itself: Our passion is for people riding bikes, no matter the type, or reason.”
