Originally Posted by T-Mar

You are correct, at least for the USA. My earlier statement had been based a Prestige that surfaced with a smoke finish (not the 1989 marble finish) but later I discovered it was a foreign market model. The USA market Prestige appears to have co-incided with Centurion team sponsorships. 1985-1986 were the years for the Texas Metros women's team, while 1989 was the Montgomery Securities - Avenir men's team.

My view is that that the Ironman was associated so closely with the triathlon market that WSI wanted an even better model that would be considered exclusively as a pro-level racing bicycle tied directly to their teams. What I never understood was why they did not capitalize on marketing the women's team. There's mention in the 1986 catalogue and a posthumous mention in the 1987 catalogue but I don't recall seeing any advertisements featuring the women's team, only the later men's team. Which is strange given that the women's team was so successful and Marianne Berglund was a former World Champion and arguably the best looking women racer. Other brands were were promting their female racers such as Connie Carpenter (Cannondale), Carol Addy (Fuji) and Susan Notorangelo (Nishiki). Maybe WSI had spent too much on Dave Scott and the Ironman license?

Both teams used the Prestige and in some 1986 events you'll also see the women's team members on the Facet. You can also find early pictures of Marianne Berglund wearring her Centurion gear but ridng her ex-Levi's Raleigh. This suggests the team frames may have been custom built and not standard production models.