Hexcel Composites and Trek Bicycles - Tour de France 2006

Business Wire, July 24, 2005

STAMFORD, Conn. -- Hexcel Corporation (NYSE/PCX: HXL) congratulates Lance Armstrong on his record setting seventh victory in the Tour de France on the Trek Madone SSLx and time trial TTX bikes made with Hexcel's HexPly(R) carbon prepreg. Hexcel materials have been utilized by Trek on all of the bicycles used by Lance Armstrong in each of his seven Tour de France victories.

David E Berges, Hexcel's Chairman, CEO and President said, "Everyone at Hexcel congratulates Lance Armstrong on his tremendous 7th victory today. Our organization is excited to have been involved with and contributed to his historic winning streak in the world's most challenging cycling event. The lightweight Hexcel materials developed for the Trek SSLx and TTX bicycles are another example of our Company's efforts to make everything from aircraft to bicycles lighter, stronger, faster."

Hexcel has worked in collaboration with Trek to develop one of the lightest and stiffest bikes in the Tour de France. Through the increased stiffness of the SSLx, Lance was able to control his power to help him to succeed in the many challenging ascending and descending stages of the tour.

Trek has progressively lowered the frame weight by reducing the weight of the individual prepreg plies -from 150gsm, to 120gsm, then 110gsm culminating in only 55gsm. Hexcel has continually provided Trek with new products that reduce weight while pushing the performance edge. With Hexcel's composite materials the SSLx bike weighs in at only 14.99 pounds (6.8 kg), the minimum allowable under international rules.

The Discovery Team F1 project, which is an alliance of all the team's experts and major sponsors working together, developed one of the lightest, fastest wheels being manufactured today. This was done utilizing Hexcel's HexPly(R) lightweight carbon prepreg on the Aeolus wheel systems used on the Trek bikes in the Tour.

Hexcel congratulates Lance Armstrong and the Discovery Team on the 7th straight victory in the Tour de France.

Hexcel Corporation is a leading advanced structural materials company. It develops, manufactures and markets lightweight, high-performance reinforcement products, composite materials and composite structures for use in commercial aerospace, space and defense, electronics, and industrial applications.