Lotto’s Legacy Lives in Every Frame

You’ve considered it many times, you should sell your bike. You don’t have room at home and others have come to take its place. But its paint tells a story: it’s that trip with friends, the bike that crossed Tourmalet, Alpe d’Huez and Arrate off your list, it is the one with scuffs and scratches that once hurt more than your bones. Every inch of that bike has a story to tell: your identity lives in that bicycle.

Lotto is like that bike. Each of the team’s 40 years tells a different tale. The Belgian National Lottery has spent four decades supporting a team deeply rooted in its homeland. Standing by the Kwaremont, you could spend hours listening to stories from any of Lotto’s local members. The team with the longest-running sponsorship in the pro peloton is the people’s team. It inspires passions passed from fathers to daughters, the one that runs through the black, yellow and red blood of the Belgians. The story of every stretch of road in the Ardennes connects with the chapters of World War I that took place in the Fields of Flanders.

The Ronde Van Vlaanderen, the legendary Tour of Flanders, embodies the pure spirit of that kind of cycling. That’s why Lotto chose this race to share its anniversary celebration with the thousands of fans who pack the streets, curbsides and cafés. At Orbea, we stand with them and join the celebration with a unique and very special action. We turned to MyO, our personalization tool, to paint each bike differently for every one of the riders lining up in Flanders. Seven women and seven men, 14 unique Orca Aeros, will match a kit which blends the most legendary Lotto jerseys, designed for the occasion.

Personalization has been a core value for Orbea since the very beginning. When we were crafting pistols in our small workshop in Eibar, the fine damascening, gold and silver detailing, and engraved initials were our signature. Later, when we moved into bicycle manufacturing, we focused on cutting and welding frames before generic sizes became the norm. Today, we’re proud to keep that tradition alive and it’s been many years since we launched MyO. In contrast to mass production, the team that paints and assembles both our stock colors and personalized MyO bikes at our Mallabia headquarters pour their soul into every detail.

Our online configurator lets you play with colors, finishes, components and even patterns, resulting in thousands of possible combinations.
These are the same tools our designers have used getting ready for this great celebration. The most creative and extravagant designs —Lotto’s 40th anniversary deserved no less— made their way to the paint department, where our artists brought them to life. This past Sunday, all 14 bikes stood out brilliantly on a day that will go down in history.

It was a weekend-long celebration, from course recon to the finish line. The sun shone over the Ardennes, the roadsides were packed and riders were embraced by the crowds. The cyclists of the future proudly carried the colors of their ancestors, honoring 40 years of history in a single jersey and on a one-of-a-kind bike.