Team Mapei was one of the most dominant classics squads of the 1990s, featuring the likes of Johan Museeuw, Michele Bartoli and Andrea Tafi. The team won Paris-Roubaix five times and in the lead-up to the 2013 edition of the race, Melbourne-based Mapei superfan, Jeff Provan, invited us to photograph his Colnago Mapei Master X-Light.

Jeff’s Colnago Mapei Master X-Light is based on the Gilco ribbed Columbus steel tubing and features handcrafted Colnago lugs. The bike is equipped with a Campagnolo Record groupset and the seatpost is from the Centaur groupset (Mapei rode the frame with Shimano).

This particular bike previously belonged to another Melbournian cycling icon, Malachi Moxon, from Northside Wheelers.

Mapei was so dominant at Paris-Roubaix in the 1990s that they came first, second and third on three separate occasions — 1996, 1998 and 1999. It was a legendary performance that will always be remembered, just like Mapei’s bold and inventive team strip. The bright colours and graphics meshed well with Colnago’s equally bold and distinctive paintwork to produce an iconic bike that will long be associated with the Spring Classics.