Cervélo Cycles saw the light of day in 1995 when 2 engineers, Phil White and Gérard Vroomen, decided to take the work they had been doing on developing faster Time Trial bikes to market. Already involved in bicycle and Human Powered Vehicle design since 1986, the turning point for  Cervelo came when a top-ranked Italian pro cyclist approached Gérard to design the fastest possible Time Trial bike for him.

He had come to the realization that his bike sponsor was capable of building traditional bikes using off the shelf tubesets from Columbus or Easton, but did not have the interest or expertise to develop leading edge designs with the focus on time trialing and aerodynamics. He also realized that he could not look at the novel designs put before him and know if they were improvements, or just "different".