A second cousin to Giovanni “Nane” Pinarello, who founded the famous Pinarello bicycle shop in Treviso, which has supplied cycles to such stars as Miguel Indurain, Jan Ullrich, Erik Zabel and Bradley Wiggins, to name a few, Cesare Pinarello was the top Italian amateur track sprinter at the start of the 1950s. As an amateur, Pinarello won two Olympic tandem bronzes – in 1952 with Antonio Maspes and 1956 with Giuseppe Ogna, sprint silver at the 1953 World Championships and sprint bronze at the 1955 Worlds. He was also twice Italian sprint champion (1953, 1955), and in 1953 was six-day champion in Milano and won the amateur København Grand Prix. Pinarello turned professional in 1957 and rode for such teams as Ignis, Philco, Termozeta Dei and GBC until his retirement in 1968. After his retirement, Pinarello ran a coffee shop in Treviso and also managed local amateur teams, most notably GS Zalf-Fior in the 1980s.