Sagan’s visit was extra special for the company, who threw a party to celebrate Sagan's recent victory and the fact that he is 10th world champion to be fitted out in their custom rainbow kit.
The popular 25-year-old was welcomed to the stage with a deafening applause. He spoke a little bit about the race and what it meant as a rider to win a world championship and how it had changed his life. Apparently he hasn’t had a ‘day off’ since he won.
Sagan’s visit continued with a tour of the Sportful factory with bike trials star Vittorio Brumotti, who is also a world champion, guiding the way using his bike.
In addition to speeches from several special guests, the company demonstrated how they made Sagan’s jersey, from the first sketch to the last stitch. The Slovak tried his hand at the printing process; a good effort but he’ll stick to riding bikes for now.
After a few hundred autographs and selfies, and a game of road bike football, Sagan signed his last signature of the day on Sportful’s wall of fame.
Sportful started sponsoring pro cycling teams back in 1988 with Alfa Lum and had their first world champion that year with Maurizio Fondriest. This was followed by Abraham Olano, Johan Musseuw, Oscar Freire and Oscar Camenzind.
The company then became sponsors of the Italian National team and enjoyed victories with Mario Cipollini, Paolo Bettini (twice) and then Alessandro Ballan.
