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Adjust tire pressure to the load

If you are traveling with a lot of luggage to the Tour, you should increase your tire pressure accordingly. Tire pressure values of 0.1 to 0.2 bar over the prescribed tire pressure values can ensure a safe and pleasant driving feel. Ideally, you should check the pressure before starting to drive or after a short initial route section.

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Why the tires at the Tour de France keep getting wider and the pressure lower

DREUX, France — There's no shortage of tech talk when the Tour de France rolls around, and it invariably has something to do with hyper-aero frames , ultralight wheels , nonround chainrings , slippery apparel, and even powdered chains . Teams will try just about anything to go faster. So it's refreshing to see a more analog innovation taking hold in the world's preeminent bicycle race: wider tires and lower tire pressure.

As Business Insider wrote in a recent review of one Tour-worthy bike , there's been a trend toward riding wider tires with lower pressure , and for good reason: It's essentially faster and more comfortable in non-lab, real-world conditions. That's backed by an increasing number of research studies, including a report by VeloNews . That flies in the face of conventional wisdom that said to go faster you needed narrower tires with higher pressure. Think rock-hard 22mm tubulars.

Last week at the Tour, we spoke with Geoff Brown , the head mechanic of the EF Education First–Drapac p/b Cannondale team. This is Brown's 21st Tour , so he's seen his share of trends. (He used to wrench for one Lance Armstrong .)

We asked Brown about the trend to embrace wider tires and lower tire pressure, something that once seemed counterintuitive in pro cycling but has become a standard of sorts among the top teams .

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"It depends on the road surface, but 10 years ago the standard was 23mm tires at 8 or 8.5 bar, or 115, 120 psi," Brown said. "And now it's 25mm for regular road racing and 7 to 7.5 bar for front and rear, so a little less than 100 to 110 max on the bikes." So what's the deal?

"There seems to be a lot more real science behind cycling now," Brown explained. "A lower tire pressure with more surface contact translates to lower rolling resistance, which is one of the main factors. And the bikes are much stiffer these days, with the carbon-fiber frames, especially the aero frames , and the aero rims — like when you're running like a 50mm-section rim, which is quite deep — all that stuff is stiff, so the lower pressure helps provide more comfort for the rider."

For what it's worth, we didn't see any 23mm tires at the Tour this year — we did look at a lot of tires — though of course we may have just missed them. By far the most common widths were 25mm and 26mm. And while it's difficult to compare Tour speeds based on tire width and pressure, the growing research and the massive push across teams to wider tires and lower pressure speak volumes.

Could we see road tires at the Tour as wide as 27mm or 28mm anytime soon?

"Things are moving along quite quickly here in our sport," Brown said. "The disc-brake thing has gained real momentum , so on those frames you can certainly run wider tires because there's the clearance for it. I could see it evolving to 26mm or 27 mm as the standard road-racing tire, sure. Why not."

Even bigger riders, like the 6-foot-5, 187-pound American Taylor Phinney , run tire pressure as low as the lighter, more compact climbers, such as Phinney's teammate and leader Rigoberto Urán of Colombia.

"As far as pressure goes, they all stay the same because it's still a team sport, and if Phinney is riding alongside Rigo and he gets a flat, he'll need a new wheel quickly," Brown said. "Everything is sort of centered around what the leader uses, so if the leader has 7 in his wheels, everyone has to have 7 in their wheels."

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Bike Tires Ridden at the Tour de France 2022

Dan matthews.

• Last Updated : July 9, 2022

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One of the most important pieces of equipment on a pro’s bike is the tires. The tires affect the ride comfort, feel, grip, and most importantly speed, especially during a time trial towards the end where seconds matter.

So naturally, many cycling fans are curious what tires their favorite pro teams will be riding for this year’s Tour de France.

In this article, we’re going to explore exactly that.

When it comes to high-performance road racing tires, there are just a handful of tire brands that really stand out. 

Leading the pack this year is Continental (6 teams) and Vittoria (6 teams) among the 22 participating teams. The rest is made up of Pirelli (4 teams), Specialized (3 teams), Michelin (2 teams) and Maxxis (1 team).

The other leading tire brands that aren’t ridden by the pros at the Tour de France are Schwalbe and Goodyear.

Continental

For the past decade, Continental tires have clocked up the most Grand Tour victories as part of their sponsorship for Team Sky (now Ineos Grenadiers). The pros ride either the Continental Pro LTD tubular tires or the new Continental GP5000 S TR tubeless tires.

These Continental Pro LTD tubular are very rare and limited to the pro teams who are racing on the highest levels. While the Continental GP5000 S TR is available to the public, availability is very scarce at the moment.

Watch out for the likes of former Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas and former Giro d’Italia winner Nairo Quintana rolling in these tires.

• Tire Model : Continental GP5000 S TR, Continental Pro LTD tubular
• Teams on Continental Tires : Bahrain Victorious, Groupama FDJ, Ineos Grenadiers, Intermarché Wanty Gobert Materiaux, Movistar Team, Team Arkea-Samsic
• Available at : Competitive Cyclist , Amazon , Wiggle

Italian tire maker Vittoria has been a mainstay in the pro peloton for the past 10 years with their tires improving with each iteration. For this year, the pros will ride the Vittoria Corsa G2.0 tubular which is very supple at 320 TPI. This tire comes in the tubular, clincher, and tubeless versions and is widely available to the general public.

Expect to see Primoz Rodglic fighting for overall the win with defending champion Tadej Pogacar and Caleb Ewan sprinting towards victory on these very fast tires.

• Tire Model : Vittoria Corsa G2.0
• Teams on Vittoria Tires : Astana Qazaqstan Team, EF Education Easypost, Lotto Soudal, Team BikeExchange Jayco, Team Jumbo Visma, Team DSM

Long-time tiremaker and F1 tire provider, Pirelli made its entry into bike tires in 2017 and hasn’t looked back since. With over 110 years of experience making tires, you can be sure that there is a lot of research and development that has gone into their Pirelli P Zero Race SL tubular which will be ridden by four teams.

They’re available to the general public in tubular, tubeless, and clinchers in 26c, 28c, and 30c widths.

• Tire Model : Pirelli P Zero Race SL
• Teams on Pirelli Tires : AG2R Citreon Team, Alpecin-Fenix, Trek Segafredo, UAE Team Emirates

Specialized

Earlier in 2021, Specialized sponsored teams BORA Hansgrohe and Deceuninck Quick-Step made a commitment to run on clinchers for all races except the Spring Classics.

This decision might go against the general understanding that tubulars are preferred for racing. That remains to be seen but up until now, clinchers have had some major victories such as Kasper Asgreen winning the 2021 Tour of Flanders and Peter Sagan at the Giro d’Italia .

They will be running the S-Works Turbo RapidAir with latex inner tubes as latex tubes are well-known for having similar riding characteristics as a tubular tire, albeit being porous.

• Tire Model : S-Works Turbo RapidAir with latex tubes
• Teams on Specialized Tires : BORA Hansgrohe, Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team, Total Energies
• Available at : Competitive Cyclist

Goodyear is another longtime tiremaker who made its entry into cycling as recently as 2018. Being the new kid on the block, Goodyear only focuses on clincher and tubeless tires. 

Hence, the riders will be riding the Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport, their top of the line, 120 TPI tubeless tires. They’re available in black and tan colors with 26c and 28c sizes.

• Tire Model : Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport tubeless ( More info )
• Teams on Goodyear Tires : Team Qhubeka Assos
• Available at : Competitive Cyclist , Wiggle

A leading brand in mountain bike tires, Maxxis will be in this year’s Tour de France with 4x winner Chris Froome’s Israel Start-Up Nation team. A solid performance from the team will definitely increase Maxxis’ stature among performance road tires especially with the Maxxis High Road SL tubeless tires.

• Tire Model : Maxxis High Road SL tubeless
• Teams on Maxxis tires : Israel Premier Tech
• Available at : Amazon

Author Recommended Reads

• 10 Reasons You Should Watch the Tour de France
• A Comprehensive Guide to Road Bike Tires
• Bike Computers at the Tour de France
• The Pro’s Bike Helmets at Tour de France

More Cycling Gear

The Best Road Bike Inner Tubes in 2023

The Best Clincher Road Bike Tires in 2023

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Tyre talk at the Tour de France | Wide rims, wide tyres and tubeless (mostly) dominate at the 2023 Tour

A close look at the wheel and tyre setups being used at the biggest race of the year

Simon von Bromley

Extracting the best performance out of tyres has always been something of a dark art within pro cycling.

In years gone by, team mechanics would reportedly age the team’s tubular tyres in cellars , but at least (almost) everyone used the same tech.

These days, mechanics at the Tour de France have to manage the varying choices (and restraints) of individual riders, team performance directors and sponsors.

Tubeless tyres of differing sizes and tubeless sealant , clincher tyres and latex or TPU inner tubes , or tubular tyres and rim cement . Things aren’t as simple as they once were.

At the Grand Départ of this year’s race, we toured the team hotels with our notebooks and vernier calipers in hand, dissecting the wheel and tyre setups of some of the biggest names in the sport.

While wider tubeless tyres continue to gain traction within the pro peloton on the macro level, almost every team was doing something slightly different with its own mix of equipment and performance philosophies.

Let’s take a look at what we learned.

Wide tyres on wide rims

Coming into this year’s race, my expectation was that most teams would be running 28c tubeless tyres .

Yet while we did see a number of such setups, it wasn’t universal.

It also appears that the wheels each team has access to is having a large influence on tyre choice and tyre size.

Tadej Pogačar’s super-sized time trial tyres

It’s not so long ago that 25c tyres were considered ‘wide’ for pro racing, but Tadej Pogačar’s Colnago V4Rs is a clear sign that things have changed significantly in recent years.

As first revealed in our recent 2023 Tour tech trends article, his bike was shod with 28c Continental GP5000 TT TR tyres (the lighter and faster time trial-specific version, rather than standard GP5000 S TR ) on ENVE SES 4.5 wheels.

That isn’t out of the ordinary on paper, but his tyres actually measured an enormous 31.3mm and 32.2mm-wide, front and rear.

The reason behind this is the super-wide internal rim width of the ENVE rims. At 25mm, these rims have some of the widest internal widths of any road bike wheelset available today.

In fact, it’s firmly in territory we’d associate with gravel bike wheels .

According to ENVE, this offers riders a wider effective tyre, which can be run at lower tyre pressures , theoretically reducing rolling resistance and improving comfort and grip.

Crucially, this is claimed to be achieved without an associated aerodynamic penalty, as the rim – at 32mm wide externally – is optimised for this.

As we speculated at the time, Pogačar has indeed changed at least his wheelset setup depending on the stage parcours.

For stage nine’s mountain top finish on the Puy de Dôme, Pogačar switched to ENVE’s ultralight SES 2.3 climbing wheelset . At a claimed weight of 1,197g, this switch saves a claimed 255g compared to the deeper and wider SES 4.5 rims.

Pogačar was still using the GP5000 TT TR tyres, although we’re not sure whether he changed widths to suit the narrower dimensions of the SES 2.3 rims (these measure 25mm externally and are aerodynamically optimised for a 27c tyre, according to ENVE), and help save every last gram.

Fat tyres for a climbing bike

While some riders at this year's Tour appear to have been running narrower tyres to help get their bike weight down (we’ll reveal who later), not every team needs to adopt this tactic.

Israel-Premier Tech’s new Factor 02 VAM , for example, is light enough that Simon Clarke was still able to run wider, heavier tyres on it and still graze the UCI’s minimum weight limit of 6.8kg.

Clarke’s bike was equipped with (non-sponsor correct) 28c Continental GP5000 S TR tyres, which measured 30.6mm-wide on Black Inc's new 28||34 climbing wheels .

On our scales, Clarke’s bike weighed a feathery 6.925kg – with pedals and a bottle cage – making it the lightest bike we saw at this year’s Grand Départ.

Ineos-Grenadiers still on the hunt for marginal gains

When we saw Egan Bernal’s Pinarello Dogma F on the eve of the first stage, it was equipped with Continental GP5000 S TR tyres on Shimano Dura-Ace C50 wheels.

Again, so far, so normal.

A quick check with the vernier calipers revealed a potential marginal gain typically employed by the British squad, however.

Up front, Bernal had a narrower 25c tyre, measuring 27mm-wide, paired with a wider 28c tyre, measuring 29.8mm, out back.

Given the Shimano wheels have a relatively conservative design (especially in contrast to Pogačar’s ENVE’s), I believe this combination was designed to optimise for aerodynamic efficiency on the leading edge of the bike and rolling resistance and comfort at the rear.

The Dura-Ace C50 rim has an external rim width of 28mm, and an internal rim width of 21mm.

Given the 28c tyre on the rear wheel measured 29.8mm-wide, running this combination on the front would likely compromise the aerodynamic efficiency of the wheel and tyre system.

This is because, as a rule of thumb, the rim should generally be slightly wider than the tyre for optimal aerodynamic performance (as when the tyre is wider than the rim, it’s more difficult for the rim to recapture and smooth the airflow).

At the rear of the bike, where the airflow is understandably much messier, aerodynamic performance matters less. Given this, Ineos perhaps feels the potential rolling resistance benefits of a wider tyre are worth more than any increase in drag here.

Notably, Lotto-Dstny’s sprinter, Caleb Ewan, had a similar setup on his prototype Ridley .

His bike was set up with a pair of DT Swiss wheels ARC 1100 50 DB wheels (which have a 20mm internal width and a 27mm external width), with a 26c Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR tyre up front and a 28c version at the rear.

Ewan’s front tyre measured 26.5mm-wide, which is likely a good aerodynamic match for this rim.

Some ‘normal’ setups

Not everyone had an unusual or non-standard setup, however. 28c tyres front and rear was, as suspected, a popular choice.

Standard tyres on custom bikes

Mathieu van der Poel’s custom Canyon Aeroad CFR (or perhaps we should say ‘one of his custom Aeroads…’, given the Dutchman has ridden three different custom bikes at this year’s Tour already) was equipped with 28c Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR tyres both front and rear, on Shimano Dura-Ace C50 wheels.

According to our calipers, these measured 29.3mm-wide – slightly wider than the 28mm external rim width of the wheelset.

EF Education-EasyPost’s Ecuadorian climber, Richard Carapaz, also had a pair of 28c Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR tyres mounted to Vision Metron 45 SL wheels.

Considering the Vision rims have the same 21mm internal rim width as the Shimano ones, it was no surprise to see these also measured 29.3mm wide.

Unfortunately, the reigning Olympic road race champion crashed out of the race on the opening stage, meaning a full pro bike feature on his custom, gold-accented Cannondale SuperSix Evo Lab71 is unlikely to see the light of day. We’ve included it here as a treat, though.

Astana Qazaqstan’s Mark Cavendish (who also sadly crashed out of the race on stage eight, after coming agonisingly close to a record-breaking 35th stage win the previous day) had a similar tyre setup, albeit on different wheels which appears to have affected the effective width of these tyres.

His custom Wilier Filante SLR was also shod with 28c Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR tyres front and rear.

On his HED Vanquish RC6 Pro wheelset, though, which have a 21mm internal and 30.6mm external rim width, these measured only 27.4mm-wide.

Although this was slated to be the Manxman’s final Tour de France, might we see a true last hurrah (and, hopefully, another custom bike) for the two-time green jersey winner next year instead?

According to L’Equipe, Astana Qazaqstan’s team manager, Alexander Vinokourov , has offered Cavendish a spot on the team for 2024, so our fingers remain crossed.

New Schwalbe tyres for Kristoff?

Fellow sprinter and four-time Tour de France stage winner, Alexander Kirstoff (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team), was also running identically-sized Schwalbe Pro One TLE tyres front and rear on his Dare VRSu.

Labelled as 28c, these measured 27.7mm-wide on Kristoff’s DT Swiss ARC 1100 62 DB wheels.

These rims have the same 20mm internal and 27mm external width as on Ewan’s DT Swiss wheelset. As the name implies, though, the rims are 12mm deeper.

Interestingly, Kristoff’s tyres had a blue bead strip and branding – something which isn’t present on the Schwalbe Pro One TLE tyres currently available.

Could this be a new version of the German brand’s highly-rated tubeless tyre ? Sadly, Uno-X team mechanics were tight-lipped on the subject.

We couldn’t help but notice the blue bead and branding was also present on the 165g Schwalbe Pro One Aerothan prototype tubeless tyre we spotted at EuroBike last month, though, suggesting there might be a connection between the two.

Given the rapid progression – and release schedule – of the latest tubeless road tyres, could Schwalbe be preparing to launch something new?

A few narrow tyres on narrow rims

If you’d had asked us before the Tour whether we’d see any tyres narrower than 25mm-wide, our answer would almost certainly have been a firm ‘Non’ .

To our surprise, though, we saw a set of 24c tubular tyres (which measured 24.4mm-wide) mounted to a bike belonging to Jumbo-Visma, one of the most technologically progressive teams in the peloton.

And not just anyone’s bike, but one belonging to last year’s yellow jersey winner, Jonas Vingegaard.

Notably, these were mounted to a set of Reserve 34|37 tubular wheels, the team’s climbing wheelset.

Given this combination was mounted to Vingegaard’s Cervélo S5 (the Canadian brand’s aero road bike ), we suspect it was intended to help get bike weight as low as possible for the Tour’s hilly opening stages around Bilbao, Spain.

This strategy was successful, too, as Vingegaard’s bike weighed an impressive 7.195kg on our scales – a full kilogram less than the Cervélo S5 Force eTap AXS we reviewed last year.

The Dutch team hasn’t been in full weight-weenie mode for the entire Tour, however.

Instead, Jumbo-Visma riders appear to be switching wheelsets and tyres to suit the varying demands of each stage.

For example, Last year’s green jersey winner, Wout Van Aert, used the super-wide Reserve 52|63 wheelset paired with Vittoria Corsa Speed G2.0 TLR time trial tyres for the flat fourth stage.

With internal and external widths of 25 and 35mm on the front rim, and 24 and 34mm on the rear, a 28c tyre (the smallest tyre size recommended by current ETRTO standards for rims this wide) on these rims is – as on Pogačar’s ENVE rims – likely to measure well over 31mm-wide.

In fact, a set of the 28c Vittoria Corsa TLR G2.0 tyres (the predecessor to the recently launched Corsa Pro TLR ) paired to the same wheelset, which featured on the Cervélo S5 test bike mentioned a moment ago, measures 31.7mm wide at just 60PSI/4.1 BAR.

Vingegaard, meanwhile, appears to have been oscillating between the setup mentioned above and the Reserve 40|44 wheelset paired with Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR tyres.

The 40|44 rims have internal and external widths of 25.5 and 33mm on the front, and 25 and 31mm on the rear, so we suspect these would also be paired with 28c tyres.

By choice or by chance?

Over at Cofidis, meanwhile, Alexis Renard’s new Look 795 Blade RS was equipped with 25c Michelin Power Cup tubular tyres (which measured exactly 25mm-wide), mounted on Corima WS Black DX wheels.

As one of the oldest teams in the WorldTour peloton, enjoying a resurgence at this year’s Tour with two stages wins so far, is this simply a case of Cofidis being behind the curve on technological innovations?

After all, most aero-focussed road bike wheelsets have grown steadily wider in recent years, following the same trend for tyres.

As discussed on the BikeRadar Podcast , though, Cofidis may have simply picked this tyre width as that’s what’s optimal for the wheels it has available from its sponsor, Corima.

We did spot spare wheels equipped with wider, tubeless versions of the same Michelin Power Cup tyres on top of a team car, but none of the French brand’s road wheelsets are as progressive (in terms of rim shape) as those from the likes of ENVE , Zipp , Reserve or Hunt .

Considering the WS Black DX wheels have a 26mm external width, a 25mm tyre is likely the optimum choice from an aero perspective.

It’s possible, therefore, that Renard would prefer wider tyres and wheels, but chose (or was given) this setup within the constraints of the equipment that’s available to him.

That said, Renard (and his team) may also be perfectly happy with this combination. Unfortunately, we’ll likely never know.

What about clinchers?

Tubeless wheels and tyres have been ‘taking over’ the pro peloton for a number of years now, replacing the more traditional tubular systems.

A close look at the bunch shows a few teams are opting for clincher setups instead, though.

AG2R-Critoen’s Ben O’Connor, for example, had his prototype BMC aero road bike set up with 28c Pirelli P Zero Race clincher tyres. These measured 30.2mm wide on his Campagnolo Bora Ultra WTO 45 wheels.

Eyeballing the distinctive black valve stem, we also think he had Pirelli’s 35g (claimed weight) P Zero Smartube thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) inner tubes.

As with Vingegaard’s Cervélo S5, we suspect this combination was chosen for its impressively low weight, as O’Connor’s size 58cm bike weighed just 7.335kg on our scales.

The more things change, the more they stay the same

Specialized-sponsored teams, meanwhile, continue to use a tyre released almost 10 years ago.

Despite the American brand releasing two new tubeless tyres this year, as well as updated tubeless-ready wheelsets to complement them, both Team TotalEnergies and Soudal Quick-Step seem content to continue with Specialized’s Turbo Cotton clinchers.

Considering the new Roval Rapide CLX II wheelset is around 100g heavier than the previous, clincher-only version , it could again be riders opting for the marginally lower weight of a clincher setup.

Alternatively, with their open tubular design, it might also be that the pro riders prefer the tubular-esque ride quality of the Turbo Cotton tyres.

Or, perhaps because Soudal Quick-Step has had so much success on this setup in recent years – including wins at the 2021 Tour of Flanders with Kasper Asgreen, and the UCI Road World Championships with Julian Alaphilippe in the same year – the Belgian team may simply be choosing to stick with what it knows and likes while it still has a choice.

Whatever the answer, we suspect these teams are pairing those tyres with either latex or TPU inner tubes, both of which offer significantly lower rolling resistance and weight than standard butyl tubes.

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Technical FAQ: Tires and pressures at the 2021 Paris-Roubaix

The finish order of the riders in the hell of the north mirrored the finish order of their tires in our rolling resistance test..

Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! >","name":"in-content-cta","type":"link"}}'>Download the app .

Have a question for Lennard? Please email him at  [email protected]  to be included in Technical FAQ.

Dear Lennard, My eyes were bugging out reading your test on rolling resistance of Paris-Roubaix tires . As a devoted tubular rider, I was blown away that the clinchers smoked the tubulars. That was a big surprise. I guess it shows I’m not as sensitive as I thought. Apparently, I can’t feel 10-watt friction differences — or even twice that — wow! Instead, I thought I was feeling the opposite. I guess your tests of chain friction the last few years already showed me that I couldn’t feel 5-watt differences, so maybe this shouldn’t surprise me. I still love the feel of nice tubulars. You can’t take that away from me, LZ!

Do you know which tires actually were used in Paris-Roubaix this year and at what pressure? Is it still a race for tubulars? — Will

Dear Will, As our test foreshadowed, and in an almost-certain sign of things to come, both the men’s and women’s races were won on tubeless clinchers. Yes, some teams were on tubulars, but far from being ubiquitous as in the past, tubulars were probably in the minority.

Super cool IMHO and indicating that science is real, the finish order of the three men and of the first two women was the same relative finish order of their respective tires in our rolling-resistance test. (The third-place woman was on the same tires as the winner.)

Sonny Colbrelli won this awesome, muddy, October Paris-Roubaix on tubeless Continental Grand Prix GP5000S TR tires mounted to deep-section Vision Metron carbon clincher wheels “in 32mm and pressure in between 3 to 4 bars [43.5 – 58 PSI],” according to Continental. This was the tire that took second place in our test of rolling resistance of tires for this race, except we tested 28mm (and 25mm), not 32mm.

We included no 32mm tires in our test. In the three cases where we tested two sizes of the same tire, the bigger tire always was faster, so there is reason to believe that the 32mm GP5000S TR might be faster on cobbles than the 28mm or 25mm ones we tested. Certainly, Colbrelli would have had better traction on the slick cobbles with the 5mm-bigger tire, would have been bounced around less (thus saving more energy), and would have protected his rims better.

At the pressure where their rolling friction was at a minimum, a pair of Colbrelli’s tires in 28mm consumes 34 watts of power to go 35kph on a simulated cobblestone surface with a 40kg load on each tire. The tires of the second-place rider required 41.6 watts and those of the third-place rider required 53 watts. Those are big differences. Imagine putting out 19 watts and 8 watts more than your breakaway companions for 160 miles and then trying to beat them in the sprint. Even if that power difference only occurs on the 34 miles of cobblestones, that’s still a lot more work the third-place rider did than the other two.

Yes, the tires would have required less power to roll on the asphalt sections than on the cobbles, but previous tests we have run at Wheel Energy Oy have shown that, while the magnitude of energy loss would have been less, the relative order of fastest to slowest tire would have remained the same. For instance, Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) rode Conti GP5000S TR tires when he won the individual time trial at the road World Championships a couple of weeks before Colbrelli won Paris-Roubaix on a fatter version of them. Also, factor in that the peloton generally rides the Hell of the North’s asphalt sections considerably faster than our 35kph test speed. The faster a tire rolls, the more power it demands, so it’s possible that the power cost would not have been enormously lower on the asphalt sections than on the cobbled sections. Added up over the race, I believe the wattage difference the three riders experienced rolling their tires for six hours could have meant the fatigue difference that decided the final sprint.

Although Paris-Roubaix has been won previously a time or two on clinchers, this was the first time I know that it had been won on tubeless ones. Otherwise, every edition has been won on tubulars.

Our tests found the lowest rolling resistance on simulated cobblestones at 35kph with a 40kg load on the 28mm tubeless GP5000S was at 4 bars; Colbrelli’s pressure range intersects it.

Gianni Moscon of Ineos had looked on his way to a solo victory while riding on the same Conti tubeless tires as Colbrelli was, and leading by 1:15 when he flatted with 25km to go (did he burp the tire?). That flat followed by a crash derailed his effort. He slid out on a straightaway — not much different from hundreds of other spots on the course that he had already successfully negotiated. Moscon said that the spare bike he was given after his puncture had different tire pressure than what he had been riding on and felt different on the cobbles.

The 10th-place rider and Colbrelli’s teammate, Heinrich Haussler, rode the same 32mm tubeless GP5000S tires, except at 2.6 and 2.7 bar (38 and 39 PSI)! In our test of a 28mm version, pressure that low would have demanded 6-8 watts more per tire than at 4 bar. That said, the low point of rolling resistance for the bigger 32mm tire might be at lower pressure.

Also read: Paris-Roubaix redux — Heinrich Haussler on ‘the hardest race of my life’

Haussler had not planned to go that low, but he rode most of the cobbles on a spare bike following a mechanical. Those pressures were measured in its tires after the finish. He weighs 71kg and with his bike probably 78kg. So, his rear tire probably had more than the 40kg test load on it and his front less.

Some people have written to me that those tires don’t work on some rims. Continental replied that “the previous GP5000TL was not allowed on hookless rims (Zipp, Enve) and those were the only brands where it was not possible – with the new one it is possible with max. pressure 5bar / 73PSI.” The new GP5000S TR replaces the 3-ply casing of the GP5000TL with a 2-ply casing, saving 50 grams (on the 25C size), and is claimed by Continental to be “20 percent faster” and have tougher sidewalls to boot.

Also on tubeless clinchers, Lizzie Deignan won the inaugural women’s Paris-Roubaix the prior day on stock Pirelli P Zero TLRs in 30mm, the same tire that was fifth-fastest in our test. She was riding around 2.7 bar (39 PSI) with a full tubeless-ready setup with inserts, according to Davide Valsecchi, sport marketing manager for Pirelli’s Cycling Division.

Our test predicted it would take 8-11 watts per tire more to roll a P Zero TLR on cobblestones at 2.7 bar than at 4 bar, where it was fastest. However, that test was with 40kg on the tire, and there is no way that Deignan had 40kg (88 pounds) on each tire—I would believe her tires were each averaging 29kg (64 pounds) on board. Deignan’s teammate, Elisa Longo Borghini, rode those same tires to third place, 1:47 behind.

Like Deignan, some of the riders on tubeless tires had foam inserts in them to prevent burping and to pad sharp strikes on cobblestone edges and minimize rim and tire damage at low pressures. Since we didn’t run our test with tubeless inserts installed, I can’t say how much energy would have been absorbed by the inserts. Some tubeless inserts are low and flat, and some take up much of the volume of the tire but are pushed lower by the air pressure above them. Perhaps inserts don’t absorb energy except at pressures low enough and impacts hard enough to compress the tire down to them. Of course, you DO want them to absorb energy from sharp impacts!

Paris-Roubaix is often decided based on who does not puncture, break wheels, or crash, and tubulars have always held the advantage in this race because tubulars resist punctures and pinch flats better than clinchers, tubular rims are less vulnerable to impact damage than clincher rims, and the lower pressures tubulars can be ridden at provide better traction and reduce crash likelihood. However, with inserts inside, tubeless tires arguably exceed tubulars in those same categories of reliability in this race so brutal on equipment and bodies.

Pirelli’s men’s teams (AG2R-Citroën, BikeExchange and Trek-Segafredo teams) “were riding a mix of solutions, mainly: P ZERO Race TLR 700x30c with different inserts based on the inner width of the rims and P ZERO Velo 30mm tubulars. When it comes to pressures of course it really depends on each rider, but we can say that for men the range was 3.5-5 bar (51-73 PSI) for the tubeless-ready and 4.5-5.5 bar (65-80 PSI) for the tubulars,” said Valsecchi, who added, “We did some tests with the teams ahead of the race and together we set a baseline. The pressure was then adjusted according to the poor weather. AG2R-Citroën was the only team that got the chance to test in similar (maybe worse?) conditions in late January.” Our test found the Pirelli tubulars to roll fastest on cobbles at 5.5 PSI and the tubeless Pirellis to be fastest at 4 PSI, so those teams used near those marks.

Sharing the men’s podium with Colbrelli and his tubeless Contis, Lotto-Soudal’s Florian Vermeersch (second place) and Alpecin-Fenix’s Mathieu Van der Poel (3rd place) both rode Vittoria Corsa Control 2.0 graphene tires. However, Vermeersch was on tubeless clinchers with inserts , while Van der Poel was on tubulars. The same sizes and models as tires in our test, Vermeersch’s Corsa Control 2.0 TLR tubeless clinchers were 28mm, and Van der Poel’s Corsa Control 2.0 tubulars were 30mm; tire pressures are secret. Again, Van der Poel would have been putting out on the order of 19 watts and 8 watts more than Colbrelli and Vermeersch, respectively, and their finish order was the same as that of their tires in our rolling-friction test. Was van der Poel’s dusting in a sprint that we otherwise might have predicted him to win indicative of those extra energy costs in fatigue over six hours? What might have happened had he ridden the same tires as Vermeersch, which were also available to his team? All three riders rode aero bikes and aero helmets, so there was no power cost in aerodynamic drag to tally up over the race.

In seventh place, on similar but not identical tires to van der Poel, Jumbo-Visma’s Wout van Aert rode 30mm Dugast tubulars with the same Vittoria Corsa Control 2.0 4C Graphene tread glued to the casing as the Vittorias on the podium. Marianna Vos (also Jumbo-Visma) rode those same 30mm Dugast-casing/Vittoria-tread tubulars to second place the day before. Inquiring minds wonder if Vos might have closed that 1:17 gap if her tires had not required 12 watts more power (or something similar) over the entire 116km than Deignan’s tires to go the same speed, as our test showed. While we didn’t test this exact tire, and the Dugast casing may be a bit more supple than Vittoria’s, it’s the same basic construction method and is still a tubular with the same energy loss at the glue joint with the rim and the cotton base tape. I doubt that its rolling resistance is significantly different from the Vittoria tubular.

Specialized’s 28mm Turbo Cotton clincher lined with a latex inner tube won our Paris-Roubaix-simulating rolling-resistance test and was the tire used by Deceuninck-Quick-Step, the team that won the 2021 UCI World Team Ranking and was a heavy favorite to win Paris-Roubaix. Missing the podium for the first time in ten years, its best-placed rider was arguably the strongest man in the race, Yves Lampaert. He won the sprint for 5th from Van Aert’s group after three punctures (putting a question mark on the idea of non-tubeless clinchers on big cobblestones). Can Specialized transform that fast tire to tubeless by April? DQS pumped the inner tubes inside their Turbo Cotton clincher up to 4.2–4.6 bar (61-67 PSI). However, our test showed 5 bar (73 PSI) to be where that tire’s rolling-resistance is at a minimum on cobblestones, which would have greatly reduced the potential for pinch flats and cracked rim walls.

Bora-Hansgrohe also uses Specialized tires, and Peter Sagan was its highest-placed rider; he crashed and finished 57th. Even though Bora-Hansgrohe reconned the course on Turbo Cotton clinchers , it raced on 30mm Turbo Cotton tubulars, which tied Deignan’s Pirelli P Zero TLR tubeless clinchers for 5th-fastest in our test. BHT’s tubulars were pumped to 4.2–4.7 bar (61-68 PSI), according to Specialized, while our test showed them to be fastest at 5.0–5.5 bar (72-80 PSI).

The eighth and ninth placed riders, Tom Van Asbroeck and Guillaume Bovin (who crashed out of the winning break at 20K to go) from Israel Start-Up Nation, probably were on the 30mm Maxxis Velocita tubulars that came in 7th in our test (the second-fastest tubular after the Specialized Turbo Cotton tubular). I haven’t been able to get an answer from Maxxis about what tires and what pressures they used. The other rider in the top ten, sixth-place Christophe LaPorte of Cofidis, would have been on Michelins, which we did not test.

The VeloNews rolling resistance test was clearly awesome for understanding Paris-Roubaix better. For something more applicable to riding you might do, look for the upcoming article I wrote on testing the rolling resistance of popular gravel tires, and for that test I’m investigating the rolling resistance difference between butyl, latex, and polyurethane inner tubes. ― Lennard

Lennard Zinn, our longtime technical writer, joined VeloNews in 1987. He is also a custom frame builder ( www.zinncycles.com ) and purveyor of non-custom huge bikes ( bikeclydesdale.com ), a former U.S. national team rider, co-author of “ The Haywire Heart ,” and author of many bicycle books including “ Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance ,” “ DVD , as well as “ Zinn and the Art of Triathlon Bikes ” and “ Zinn’s Cycling Primer: Maintenance Tips and Skill Building for Cyclists .” He holds a bachelor’s in physics from Colorado College.

Follow @lennardzinn on Twitter.

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\n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/evenepoel-vingegaard-roglic-all-crash-in-high-speed-spill-at-itzulia-basque-country\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"evenepoel, vingegaard, vine, kras, quinn sustain fractures, rogli\u010d escapes with no broken bones\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/evenepoel-vingegaard-roglic-all-crash-in-high-speed-spill-at-itzulia-basque-country\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"evenepoel, vingegaard, vine, kras, quinn sustain fractures, rogli\u010d escapes with no broken bones\"}}\u0027>\n evenepoel, vingegaard, vine, kras, quinn sustain fractures, rogli\u010d escapes with no broken bones\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"the third generation bmc roadmachine is suddenly a lot more capable","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/bmc-roadmachine-more-capable\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/bmc-roadmachine-more-capable\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"the third generation bmc roadmachine is suddenly a lot more capable\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/bmc-roadmachine-more-capable\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"the third generation bmc roadmachine is suddenly a lot more capable\"}}\u0027>\n the third generation bmc roadmachine is suddenly a lot more capable\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"bianchi says mechanics disregarded instructions in paris-roubaix bike issues","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/bianchi-issues-paris-roubaix\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/bianchi-issues-paris-roubaix\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"bianchi says mechanics disregarded instructions in paris-roubaix bike issues\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/bianchi-issues-paris-roubaix\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"bianchi says mechanics disregarded instructions in paris-roubaix bike issues\"}}\u0027>\n bianchi says mechanics disregarded instructions in paris-roubaix bike issues\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"photo essay: the drama of paris-roubaix, by chris auld","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/photo-essay-the-drama-of-paris-roubaix-by-chris-auld\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/photo-essay-the-drama-of-paris-roubaix-by-chris-auld\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"photo essay: the drama of paris-roubaix, by chris auld\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/photo-essay-the-drama-of-paris-roubaix-by-chris-auld\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"photo essay: the drama of paris-roubaix, by chris auld\"}}\u0027>\n photo essay: the drama of paris-roubaix, by chris auld\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "}]' > >", "name": "footer-menu", "type": "link"}}'>advertise >", "name": "footer-menu", "type": "link"}}'>privacy policy >", "name": "footer-menu", "type": "link"}}'>contact >", "name": "footer-menu", "type": "link"}}'>careers >", "name": "footer-menu", "type": "link"}}'>terms of use >", "name": "footer-menu", "type": "link"}}'>site map >", "name": "footer-menu", "type": "link"}}'>my newsletters manage cookie preferences privacy request healthy living.

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How to Achieve Perfect Tyre Pressure

The most important factor in the performance of a bike is also the one taken most for granted. Chances are that if you’re not a cycling pro or aficionado, you won’t pay much attention to your tyre pressure unless someone says, “Hey, I think you have a have a flat tyre,” or when you do have a flat tyre.

It’s a fact that bike tyres need to be checked more often than car tyres, and (another fact) narrow tyres need more air pressure than wide ones. Road tyres generally require 80 to 130 PSI (pounds per square inch); the range for mountain tyres is 25 to 40 PSI, and hybrid tyres ride at 40 to 80 PSI.

The more a rider weighs, the higher the pressure needs to be. I have a mountain bike and I weigh 72 kg, so I ride very comfortably at 30 PSI. Someone who weighs 90 kg will probably ride at about 5 PSI higher, while somebody who tips the scales at 60 kg would ride at 25-27 PSI. But whatever you weigh, never ride at above or below the manufacturer’s recommended tyre pressures, which are listed on the sidewall.

But that’s still not everything you have to consider. Road and weather conditions also play a part. It’s widely believed that higher tyre pressure makes for lower rolling resistance because on a smooth road surface hard tyres flex less and create a small contact surface. But no road is perfectly smooth, and tyres that are properly inflated will conform to road imperfections and absorb shocks. Over-inflated tyres, on the other hand, are more sensitive to surface irregularities and so transmit impacts, large and small, making for an uncomfortable ride.

Lower tyre pressure does indeed increase rolling resistance, but several studies using different road tyres have found that the increase is small, just a few watts of power, even at the lowest allowable pressure. In fact, rolling resistance accounts for a very small part of the forces that prevent you from riding like Sam Bennett . Wind resistance, hills and gravity are far more important. So, again, don’t over-inflate.

On new pavement, my tyres might feel great at 25 PSI, but they will roll faster at 35 PSI on a rough road, so be aware of where you are going to ride and adjust your tyres accordingly. When the surface I’m riding on is wet, I’ll take 3 PSI off my tyres for better traction. And when I’m on a trail, I may go down to 25. But everyone will have their own tyre pressure sweet spot. Find it by trial and error. It’s worth it.

One more thing. It’s pretty standard to inflate both front and rear tyres to the same pressure, but a rider’s weight is not balanced 50-50 front to rear depending again on riding style and also on the type of bike you are riding. For road bikes, it’s about 40 per cent front and 60 per cent rear in most cases.

To find the ideal pressure, begin by deflating front and rear, say, 5 per cent each (per cent, not PSI, if the tyres have different pressures). Go on a ride and see how it feels. Then drop it a little more. The best tyre pressure gives you a comfortable ride with a sure feeling in corners. Once the front wheel starts to feel a little soft in hard cornering, put a few PSI back. Measure front and rear and write the results down as a baseline. But remember that the ideal pressure may change according to conditions, terrain, weather, and when you switch tyre sizes or brands.

And remember, too, to check your tyre pressure often, once a week or, as some do it, before every ride. Because tyres leak.

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Considering tyre pressure at the Tour de France

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]

There’s a lot of talk about the tech on display at the Tour but there are little things every rider can do to optimise their performance on the bike. Pumping up your tyres is a basic act but there’s also a science to it.

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The conditions in the opening stage of the 2017 Tour de France proved to be difficult for many and, alas, dangerous for some. Two star riders are out of the race – Alejandro Valverde and Ion Izaguirre, both victims of crashes on the wet roads of Düsseldorf on Saturday.

It prompted people to ask questions about how riders might manage themselves – or their equipment – better to limit the risk of crashing.

And so the topic of tyre pressure came up… again.

Often when rain falls before the start of a race, it’s not uncommon to hear the ‘ psshhhhh pssshhh… ’ of riders letting a little air out of their tyres. But this is modern, professional sport and such random acts based on feel are dated. When there’s so much attention to detail on a vast range of themes to maximise efficiency even the good old tyre pressure quandary deserves closer consideration.

“Tyre pressure is a topic of great interest,” said Simon Jones, the new high performance director at Cycling Australia, at the start of stage two.

The subject came up because I’d checked what Geraint Thomas raced with on his way to victory in Düsseldorf. Team Sky’s mechanic, Filip Tisma, told me: “7.2 to 7.3 bar”.

In terms of PSI, that equates to around 104.4 to 105.8… roughly.

But just because that worked for ‘G’, don’t expect it to be right for you.

Before his job with Cycling Australia, Jones worked with Team Sky. He managed some of the details that have contributed to the “marginal gains” of a team that is as pedantic as possible about all things relating to performance. And, as I’d learn during a discussion before stage two, tyre pressure is a topic he’s fond of.

“At Team Sky, the lengths that we went to to optimise and individualise the tyre pressures to each of the riders, to wet and dry conditions, was quite extreme,” Jones explained.

“As part of that process, I found a place in Finland, Wheel Energy, that specialises in this. I went up to see them and test rolling resistance, wet and dry grip… and we benchmarked every type of tyre at different pressures. Then, with that data, we created a matrix; like a decision-maker matrix – where, based off the weight and the weight distribution of the bike, you could optimise the tyre pressure depending on the racing objective, whether it be a time trial, a bad rough road surface, a smooth road surface, or a mountain.”

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”https://www.ridemedia.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/IMG_2395.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” animation=”left” sticky=”off” align=”left” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]

Simon Jones and Bradley McGee at the time trial in Düsseldorf.

Photo: Rob Arnold

Rain continues to fall on the 104th Tour de France. Wet conditions are again impacting the peloton as it races towards Liège in stage two. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that Geraint will have “7.2 to 7.3 bar” in this tyres today. There is a different bike, a different position, different road surfaces… all things that Sky consider when pumping up tyres.

“We got some methodology to say, ‘Well, what are the conditions like today? Who is the rider? What are the goals?’ And then used an appropriate tyre pressure,” continued Jones.

Gone is the notion of a rider just leaning over and easing a bit of air out the valves in the quest to find his optimal pressure. The lessons Jones learned in Finland are some he believes can be shared to the broader cycling community because everyone can benefit.

“You have to test your tyres because every tyre performs differently,” he said.

“We were finding that, with the Continental tyres and also ones that were slick, they performed really well in the wet. And, again, there was a bit of a sweet spot between a certain pressure – and it all depends on the mass of the rider. And it also depends on your weight distribution and how you’re set up on the bike.

“They will reduce tyre pressure by half a bar, not much. But we wouldn’t just go ‘psshhh psshh… ’ and do it by feel. We’d actually measure it because it’s actually quite important to get it to that little sweet spot between grip, rolling resistance and stability. And obviously you’ve got to look at the road surface.”

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Geraint Thomas powering along on the wet streets of Düsseldorf… and onward to a yellow jersey.

Photo: Yuzuru Sunada

The Tour moved from Germany to Belgium today, from a street circuit to some paved roads, some rough roads, some slick wet roads… and chances are Sky will select a different pressure and possibly a different tyre.

But it’s not motorsport and we’re not used to seeing commentary about the specifics of such stuff. But, says Jones, “I think there’s a lot of interest out there and I think we’ve got a role to share things which are not that confidential but people might find interesting”.

Two riders are out of the race and perhaps a little less (or more) air in their tyres could have improved their grip… but we’ll never know. As Jones conceded: “The streets in Düsseldorf are quite smooth so they’re quite fast.”

With the peloton now in Belgium, it’s a different situation.

“The funny thing is, if your tyres aren’t in contact with the ground, you fall off,” said Jones.

“That might be a bit of a crazy thing to say but if they’re too hard, you bounce. And you get this very, very high frequency bouncing which means your tyres aren’t in contact with the ground. So it’s actually really important.

“You’ve only got 2.5mm of rubber that connects you to the road so it’s quite an important 2.5mm and the tyre pressures are really important.”

Indeed it is. And even with all that goes into the trying to make things are effective – and safe – as possible, this is cycling. Incidents can happen. A touch of wheels, like what happened to Chris Froome with 30km to go in stage two, can bring riders down. And little does it matter if there’s 7.2 or 7.3 in the tyres. You also need a little bit of luck.

– By Rob Arnold

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Road Bike Tire Test: Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TR (TdF) 25

Contents and Test Summary

• Introduction

Manufacturer Specifications

• Size, Weight, Thickness
• Rolling Resistance: 7.2 Watts
• Puncture Resistance: 31 Points
• Static Wet Grip: 69 Points
• Conclusion: 4.5 / 5 Highly Recommended
• Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TR (TdF) 25

Ad Buy Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TR (TdF) at Amazon.com

The Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TdF (Tour de France) is a tire optimized to provide the absolute lowest rolling resistance and highest speeds during time trials or other events where speed is the most critical factor. The Grand Prix 5000 TT TdF is very similar to the well-known Grand Prix 5000 S TR ( read our review ) except for some key areas where Continental removed some material to make it lighter and faster.

The main area where Continental went shaving is the tread thickness, which has been reduced by 0.5 mm compared to the more all-round Grand Prix 5000 S TR. Both tires use the same 2/220 casing material with two layers under the tread and an extra layer of Vectran anti-puncture breaker to keep the puncture resistance to a somewhat acceptable level. This means the 0.5 mm reduction comes solely from a reduction in rubber thickness which reduces weight and rolling resistance but also means the expected durability (mileage) will be roughly halved.

The other area where Continental removed material can be found in the sidewalls as they are thinner and easier to puncture on the TT TdF version. If you've read our review of the Grand Prix 5000 S TR ( read our review ), you might know that the S TR comes with a 2/220 casing, but it's only two layers under the tread, while the sidewalls are made of three layers. On the 5000 TT TdF version, the tire is entirely made of only two layers, saving some weight and reducing rolling resistance.

We're not sure it's the lighter casing design, but inflating the TT TdF version was much more challenging than the S TR version we tested last year. While the S TR could be inflated with a simple floor pump, this was impossible to achieve with the TT TdF version, and we had to use a compressor and remove the valve core to get it seated. If you've had problems with inflating tubeless tires in the past, this might be something to consider.

The TT TdF version is only available in the 25-622 size, and when we compare it to the same sized S TR version, the reduction in tread thickness and sidewall thickness results in a weight reduction of 35 grams. 35 grams might not sound like a lot, but the reduced rolling resistance is what will really make a difference in the race against the clock.

We've run the Grand Prix 5000 TT TdF through all our tests and compared it to the Grand Prix 5000 S TR, Vittoria Corsa Speed G+ 2.0, Schwalbe Pro One TT, and Michelin Power Cup TLR.

Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TR (TdF) 25 Test Results

Size, Weight, and Thickness Measurements

Rolling resistance test results, puncture resistance test results.

Static Grip Test Results

As expected, the lightened Grand Prix 5000 TT TdF is one of the fastest rolling tires, but it still comes in a couple of tenths behind the Vittoria Corsa Speed G+ 2.0 ( read our review ). In nearly all of our other tests, the 5000 TT TdF and Corsa Speed G+ 2.0 trade places with each other, but the differences are neglectable most of the time. We do see the 5000 TT TdF performs better regarding tread width and tread cover, making it more suitable for use on the wider rims that some people use these days.

What concerns us the most is the availability of the 5000 TT TdF (Tour de France) edition, as we're not sure how long this tire will be available. Continental also describes this tire as a LE (Limited Edition) tire, and a quick look online also gives us the impression this tire is hard to find and only available from a select number of countries. On top of that, pricing also made a step up again, but we assume this is also because of the TdF and LE nature of this tire.

The Grand Prix 5000 TT TdF shows us what a lighter version of the Grand Prix 5000 S TR ( read our review ) can do in our tests, but maybe it's better to wait and see if Continental releases a regular - non-TdF, non-LE - Grand Prix 5000 TT.

RATING: 4.5 / 5 TEST VERDICT: Highly Recommended

Tour de France

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A gripping adventure through France

Continental sponsors the  Tour de France  - the biggest cycling race in the world - taking place in France annually since 1903. The international platform showcases Continental tyres in a high-performance environment at the yearly pinnacle of cycling racing. Several participating World Tour teams in the race trust in the hand-made Continental bicycle tires from Korbach, Germany. Continental also equips the official vehicles (more than 70) with special branded EcoContact 6 , PremiumContact 7  car tires and for the first time the  UltraContact NXT  which includes 60% of recycled materials. These car tires are designed at the company's headquarters in Hanover, Germany and produced both in Sarreguemines, France and Lousado, Portugal. At the beginning of the cycling season the car tires are fitted at the official garage of the Tour de France in Evry near Paris. During the race the car tyres face challenging conditions such as sudden weather changes, various road surfaces as well as steep mountain ascents and descents. The car tyres provide the official drivers the confidence to focus on delivering a safe tour while being cheered on by millions of passionate cycling fans along the route creating an incredible atmosphere.

• 111th edition
• Dates: from June 29th to July 21st, 2024
• Distance: 3.492 km over 21 stages
• Grand Depart: Florence, Italy
• 2 countries: Italy and France

As a main partner and stage winner presenter Continental awards every Tour de France stage winner with an individual medal on the podium for his special achievement – as many pro cyclists have highlighted over the years: a life-changing moment never to be forgotten in their career.

The Tour de France route is different every year. But often iconic mountains such as Alp d’Huez, Tourmalet, Mont Ventoux or Galibier feature in the race. Most certainly the cyclists pass through parts of the Alps and Pyrenees at some point and finish with a grand final on the famous Champs-Elysees in Paris. The Tour de France does not start in France every year: the so called “Grand Depart” took place in Brussels in 2019 and will take place in the Basque Country at the north of Spain starting on the first of July in 2023.

For three days, the world´s most famous bike race will pass through the towns and villages of the three beautiful provinces of Alava, Guipuscoa and Biscaye before heading to France.

At the Tour de France Continental also supports the  Young Cadets  initiative with bicycle tires and cycling gear where on each stage eight local riders get to feel like a pro for a day by cycling the first and last 30 kilometres of the stage just hours before the peloton.

Tour de France – Life of the tire

“We are delighted to play a major part in the biggest cycling race in the world. Being the stage winning partner of the Tour de France fits perfectly to our core value of ‘passion to win’. We are very much looking forward to contributing to the race with our wide range of high-performance tires.”

Christian Kötz, Board member and Head of Tire Division

Tour de France – Best of 2023

Picture Gallery Highlights 2023

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What Is the Average Speed of a Tour de France Rider? Plus More FAQs

Even if you are tuning in for the first time, these facts will make you look like a seasoned viewer of the TdF.

As you get ready to watch the 2023 Tour de France, you might have some questions. This information will transform you—quickly—into a Tour expert. First, the basics: The 110th Tour de France will take place from July 1 - July 23. It’s good to know that the route changes every year. And in 2023, the Grand Départ is in the Basque Country of Spain, with the typical finish in Paris after 21 stages.

How fast do riders go?

We have looked into this ! A Tour pro’s ability to produce more power for longer means that they can really hammer over different types of races and terrains.

Average Time Trial Speed Average Rider: 19 to 20 mph | Tour Pro: 29 to 31 mph Average Speed on Flat Terrain Average Rider: 17 to 18 mph | Tour Pro: 25 to 28 mph Maximum Sprint Power

Average Rider: 600 to 800 watts | Tour Pro: 1,200 to 1,400 watts

Why do so few Americans compete in the Tour de France?

In 2022, there were seven Americans in the Tour. As of the middle of June, start lists aren’t finalized, but viewers will most likely see Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma), and Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar).

Christopher Thompson, author of The Tour de France: A Cultural History , believes fewer Americans race professionally because the U.S. has historically seen cycling as more of a pastime than a competitive endeavor. In Europe, it is more common for children to be trained in competitive racing, and it’s hard for American racers to compete with that training

Also, the cost of competing for an American is higher: Racers need to go where the big races are, and that almost always means moving to Europe.

How much prize money does the Tour de France winner get?

According to the Tour de France website, a total of around 2.3 million Euros will be awarded to the teams and riders, including 500,000 Euros to the winner of the final individual general classification (who usually shares his money with his team). That is equal to roughly $537,000 (USD). Second place GC is awarded 200,000 Euros, third place GC walks away with 100,000 Euros, and so on. Other top prizes go to stage winners, who get 11,000 Euros, and the winners of the points classification and mountains classification, both of whom receive 25,000 Euros. Riders can also win money during intermediate sprints and certain climbs. There’s even prizes for the five best teams and the four best young riders.

Who has won the most Tour de France titles?

That depends whether you’re counting titles that have been taken away ( cough — Lance — cough ). If not, the answer is a four-way tie between Jacques Anquetil, Miguel Indurain, Eddy Merckx, and Bernard Hinault, says Thompson.

Has the Tour ever been cancelled?

Only the two World Wars caused the race to be put on hold, says Thompson. All in all, battles cost the world 11 editions of the Tour: WWI broke out a few days after the 1914 Tour, he says, and didn’t run again until 1919. It went on hiatus again during WWII from 1940 to 1946, running again in 1947—two years after the end of the war.

“WWI was a war of attrition and the French were fighting the whole time. There were several Tour winners who were killed in the trenches,” he says. “But in WWII, France was defeated and occupied quite early, and that was different. There was a government that went along with the Nazis, so there was some racing to prove that things were normal under the occupation, but the Tour wasn’t held. After, France was so devastated by WWII that it took a while to get restarted.”

The Tour was postponed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but eventually held in August of that year.

​Why is the leader’s jersey yellow?

Simple, says Thompson: L’Auto , the newspaper that first started and sponsored the race, was printed on yellow paper, so it was essentially an advertising strategy. (That’s also why the Giro d’Italia leader’s jersey is pink —the newspaper that created the Giro was printed on pink paper.) By the way, yellow in French is jaune and the jersey is called maillot jaune .

How do they make the jerseys so quickly?

There are four jerseys awarded during the course of the Tour de France each year and because who wears them gets decided during the race, they have to made on the spot and in a moment.

Has anyone ever died in the Tour?

Sadly, yes. Four riders have passed away over the course of the race’s history. In 1910, Adolphe Heliére drowned on a rest day; in 1934, Francisco Cepeda crashed into a ravine on a descent; in 1967, Tom Simpson passed away after a heart attack ; and in 1995, Fabio Casartelli was killed after crashing and hitting his head.

Unfortunately, there have also been a number of horrific crashes. To see how grueling the race is, even for those who don’t fall or crash, watch Unchained on Netflix.

​What do Tour riders do on rest days?

They ride! At least, they go for short rides to keep their legs from cramping up. Max Testa , M.D., former team doctor for a variety of Tour teams including Team BMC, 7-Eleven, and Motorola, says that the short rides (which can be up to three hours!) help keep inflammation at bay and keep muscles ready for another hard day in the saddle.

Is there a women’s Tour de France?

After a number of iterations over the years, the 2023 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift will be held from Sunday, July 23 to Sunday, July 30. The course is 594 miles and includes a mountain stage, four flat stages, two hilly stages, and the time trial. They will not race at all in Paris.

Who were the oldest and youngest Tour cyclists?

Both distinctions occurred in 1904: Henri Paret was the oldest competitor at age 50 when he competed in 1904, while 20-year-old Henri Cornet was the youngest. Cornet was also the youngest winner. The oldest winner was in 1922, when 36-year-old Belgian Firmin Lambot took the yellow jersey.

Do racers make their stage data public?

Sometimes—but don’t count on them spending their evenings uploading their numbers . Still, you can keep an eye on some top pros’ Strava accounts.

How much do Tour de France bikes weigh?

In the 1900s, a Tour de France cyclist pedaled up and down mountains on a bike that weighed a whopping 40 pounds. In fact, Fiets, a Dutch cycling magazine, showcased a bike from the 1903 race weighing 39.7 pounds with a fixed gear. Today, bikes weigh just under 15 pounds—but not any lower, since the UCI’s minimum bike weight is 6.8kg, which translates to 14.99 pounds.

What tire pressures do the cyclists run?

Every racer and mechanic has a specific (top-secret) tire pressure that they considers to be optimal, but there are some guidelines.

“In general, with all of those variables [like weather and riders’ personal preference], that tire pressure is 8 to 8.5 bar for the road stages, and then 9.5 to 10 bar for the time-trial stages. Around 115 psi in the front and 125 psi in the back for the road stages and 130-135 psi for time-trial stages. And we drop that by 10 or 15 for rainy days,” Geoff Brown, veteran mechanic for Garmin-Sharp and EF Education First teams tells Bicycling .

They run about 10 psi lower in the front for more control, as well, and with tubular tires , they tend to run slightly lower pressures. Clinchers need to be kept around 110 to 120 psi in order to avoid pinch-flatting.

How do the competitors go to the bathroom?

It’s a long, hot ride so the pros are hydrating a lot. In the first five to 10 minutes of a race, when the pace is more leisurely, “riders pull to the side of the road, pull their shorts down just like you would underwear—you know, pull front down, do your business,” says retired pro cyclist Ted King, who’s ridden the Tour de France several times.

During this neutral roll out, King says, there’s plenty of time to catch back on to the peloton before the race starts in earnest. Fortunately, nature calls for all riders. “It’s a lot easier to wait for a lull in the race when a big fraction of the peloton pulls to the side of the road rather than doing it solo, because that solo chase is tough!” King says.

Of course, riders also pee off the bike while riding, although it requires having their teammates pedal while they go. “If peeing to the right, your right leg is in a 6 o’clock position, left at 12. Left hand on the handlebars, right hand holds the shorts down, and coast while relieving yourself,” King advises.

.css-1t6om3g:before{width:1.75rem;height:1.75rem;margin:0 0.625rem -0.125rem 0;content:'';display:inline-block;-webkit-background-size:1.25rem;background-size:1.25rem;background-color:#F8D811;color:#000;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-position:center;background-position:center;}.loaded .css-1t6om3g:before{background-image:url(/_assets/design-tokens/bicycling/static/images/chevron-design-element.c42d609.svg);} Beginner Cycling

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What Size Tires Are Used in the Tour De France?

The Tour de France, the world's most prestigious cycling race, is an event renowned for it’s grueling challenges and demanding terrains. Every year, professional cyclists from around the globe gather to compete for the coveted yellow jersey, pushing their limits to conquer mountains, cobblestones, and everything in between. In this high-stakes race, riders carefully consider every aspect of their equipment, including the size of their tires. While 700×32 mm may seem like an ideal width for smoothly gliding over the uneven cobbles, it’s intriguing to note that most competitors and teams opt for slightly narrower 30 mm tires. Among the favorites in this category, the Vittoria Corsa Control has garnered exceptional popularity, finding favor throughout the paddock. Such meticulous consideration of tire specifications exemplifies the dedication and attention to detail that cyclists and their teams invest in pursuit of performance and success in this legendary race.

What Tires Do Pro Cyclist Use?

When it comes to professional cycling, the choice of tires is a critical decision that can greatly impact a riders performance. Tour de France riders, in particular, have a range of high-quality options to choose from. One popular choice among pro cyclists is the Pirelli P Zero Race 4S. Known for it’s excellent grip and low rolling resistance, this tire provides top-notch performance on a variety of road surfaces.

Another popular tire among Tour de France riders is the Schwalbe Pro One tubeless tire. Designed for maximum speed and durability, this tire offers riders exceptional grip and puncture resistance. It’s tubeless design also reduces rolling resistance, providing a smoother and more efficient ride.

Specialized S-Works Turbo RapidAir tires are also a favorite among pro cyclists. Known for their lightweight construction and high-performance capabilities, these tires offer exceptional grip and handling. They’re also designed to provide a smooth and fast ride, making them ideal for competitive racing.

Vittoria Corsa G2.0 TLR Road tires are another top choice for professional cyclists. They also feature a tubeless design, which further enhances their performance and reduces the risk of flats.

The Challenge Strada Open Tubular tire is another popular option among Tour de France riders. Made with hand-built cotton casing, these tires offer a supple and comfortable ride. They’re also known for their excellent grip and overall performance on a variety of road surfaces.

Finally, the Vittoria Rubino Pro Graphene 2.0 Road tire is a reliable choice for pro cyclists. With it’s graphene compound, this tire provides exceptional durability and puncture resistance. It also offers great grip and low rolling resistance, making it a top pick for competitive racing.

With a range of high-quality options available, Tour de France riders have access to top-notch tires that provide excellent grip, durability, and low rolling resistance. Each rider may have their own preferred brand and model, but all will undoubtedly be seeking the best combination of speed, grip, and durability for the demanding conditions of professional racing.

How Tire Choice Can Affect a Cyclist’s Performance in Different Weather Conditions

Tire choice plays a significant role in a cyclist’s performance in various weather conditions. The type of tire used can impact grip, rolling resistance, and overall handling. This can be crucial when riding in wet, dry, or icy conditions. Different tire treads, compounds, and widths provide varying levels of traction and control. Therefore, selecting the appropriate tire for the specific weather condition can greatly enhance a cyclist’s performance and safety.

However, when it comes to the Tour de France, the optimal tire width is still a highly debated topic. Riders have different preferences and strategies when it comes to tire choice for the grueling stages of the prestigious race. While some still opt for narrower tires for better aerodynamics, others argue that wider tires provide better traction and comfort on the diverse road surfaces encountered throughout the tour. So, what’s the ideal tire width for the Tour de France? Let’s explore the various arguments and factors that come into play.

What Tire Width for Tour De France?

In the realm of professional cycling, where performance and control play pivotal roles, tire width has always been a matter of careful consideration. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the prestigious Tour de France. As the pinnacle of the racing calendar, the Tour demands a tire width that strikes the perfect balance between speed, agility, and comfort while navigating a multitude of terrains.

With the advent of 2022, a consensus appears to have emerged within the WorldTour peloton regarding the optimal tire width for most of the spring classics. At 28mm, this choice offers a sweet spot for riders seeking versatility across varying road surfaces. This width provides a good compromise between rolling resistance, aerodynamics, and grip, ensuring competitors can tackle cobbles, gravel, and rough sections with confidence and skill.

However, a different stance is espoused for the notorious Paris-Roubaix. Known as the “Queen of the Classics,” this grueling race presents a unique challenge that begs for a wider tire. In light of this, it’s been widely agreed upon that 30mm is the ideal choice for Paris-Roubaix. The additional width allows for greater shock absorption, reducing the strain on both bike and rider during the unforgiving sections of rough pavé that litter the route.

In recent years, the pro peloton has been shifting towards wider tyres for their race bikes, primarily in the range of 23mm to 25mm. This transition has occurred to strike a balance between reducing weight and improving aerodynamics. It’s fascinating to see how the common standard, once as narrow as 23mm, has evolved to accommodate the preferences of professional cyclists.

What Size Tyres Do Pro Peloton Use?

In recent years, however, there’s been a growing trend towards even wider tyres in the pro peloton. This is because wider tyres offer several performance benefits. Firstly, they provide increased stability and grip, particularly when cornering at high speeds. This can be crucial in races where riders are pushing their bikes to the limit in terms of speed and handling.

The larger contact patch that comes with wider tyres allows for lower tire pressures, which in turn provides a smoother ride and better traction. This can be especially advantageous on rough roads or cobbled sections, where additional cushioning and grip can give riders a competitive edge.

The increased volume of air inside the tyre helps to absorb impacts and reduce the risk of flats. This is particularly important in races where punctures can be costly in terms of time lost and potential crashes.

Firstly, wider tyres may not fit on all road bike frames or offer sufficient clearance in between the fork and rear stays. This means that riders and teams need to ensure their bikes are compatible with wider tyres before making the switch.

Furthermore, wider tyres can also be slightly heavier than narrower ones, which may have an impact on climbing abilities. This is a trade-off that riders and teams need to carefully consider based on the specific demands of each race course.

As the technology and understanding of tyre dynamics continue to evolve, we may see even wider tyres becoming the norm in the future, as riders and teams seek that extra edge in the relentless pursuit of victory.

For competitive riders and racers, tire size plays a crucial role in finding the perfect balance between speed, comfort, and weight. While there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, many professionals opt for tires around 25mm in width. This dimension offers a sweet spot that allows for optimal performance without compromising comfort. However, for those seeking a slightly smoother ride without sacrificing too much speed, 28mm tires have gained popularity in the pro cycling community. The quest for the ideal tire size continues, as each rider’s preferences and racing conditions differ.

What Tire Size Do Pro Cyclist Use?

For professional cyclists, choosing the right tire size is a crucial decision that affects their performance on the road. While there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, competitive riders and racers often opt for tires around 25mm in size. This choice offers a great balance between speed, comfort, and weight – all essential aspects for reaching peak performance.

When it comes to racing, speed is of the essence. Smaller tire sizes, like the mentioned 25mm, provide less rolling resistance, allowing cyclists to maintain higher speeds. This reduced resistance translates into improved efficiency and enhanced overall performance during races. Moreover, the narrower profile of these tires offers better aerodynamics, effectively cutting through the wind to help riders go even faster.

However, it’s not all about speed in the world of cycling. Comfort plays a significant role, especially during long rides or rough road conditions. In this regard, many pro cyclists have turned to slightly larger tire sizes, such as the popular 28mm. These offer extra cushioning and absorb more vibrations, resulting in a smoother and more comfortable ride. For riders looking to reduce the impact on their bodies and fatigue over extended periods, this extra comfort can be a game-changer.

Factors such as the type of terrain, weather conditions, and personal riding style all come into play.

These tire size changes among TDF riders reflect the ongoing evolution of cycling technology and the search for optimal performance. While Continental continues to dominate the peloton, it will be interesting to see if other brands and tire sizes gain popularity in the future.

What Size Tires Do TDF Riders Use?

In the world of professional cycling, every small detail can make a big difference. Grasping the importance of tire size, teams competing in the Tour de France have started to shift their preferences. While a 23mm tire width was once the standard for these elite athletes, recent times have witnessed a transition towards slightly wider options. This year, a staggering 20 out of the 22 teams have opted for 25mm tires for non-time trial stages, while the remaining two teams, Specialized-sponsored, have taken it a step further with 26mm rubber.

For those unfamiliar with the sport, it may seem surprising that such minute changes in tire size could hold significant value. However, professional riders and their teams understand that even the smallest improvements in performance can translate into significant advantages on the road. By increasing the width of their tires, cyclists gain greater traction, enhanced stability, and improved comfort. These factors, taken together, result in increased speed and reduced fatigue over grueling distances.

When it comes to tire choice, Continental continues to reign supreme in the Tour de France peloton. An impressive nine out of the 22 participating teams have opted for their high-performance Competition Pro LTD tubulars. Known for their exceptional grip, low rolling resistance, and durability, Continental tires remain a top choice among professional riders. This level of confidence in their product speaks volumes about the brands reputation and quality.

The shift towards 25mm and 26mm rubber showcases the sports continuous pursuit of marginal gains and optimisation of performance. While the difference between a 23mm and 26mm tire may not be immediately apparent to the average spectator, these subtle variations can play a crucial role in determining the outcome of a race at this level of competition.

Considering the immense physical demands placed on riders during the Tour de France, every decision, no matter how seemingly insignificant, is made with the goal of gaining a competitive edge. A strategic choice like selecting the right tire size is just one of the many ways teams seek to maximize performance. By staying ahead of the curve and adapting to new trends and technologies, these professional athletes are constantly pushing the boundaries to achieve their desired results. So, the next time you watch the peloton fly past, pay close attention to those seemingly microscopic details that contribute to the enthralling spectacle that’s the Tour de France.

When it comes to choosing the right tire size for bicycle touring, there are a few factors to consider. For cyclists predominantly riding on paved roads, a width of 35c provides a great balance between speed and comfort. However, individuals seeking a faster ride may opt for 32c tires, but it’s generally advisable to avoid going any smaller. On the other hand, for those embarking on tours that encompass both dirt and pavement, a tire width of 40c is a reliable choice. Now that we’ve explored suitable tire sizes for bicycle touring, let’s delve into some additional considerations to enhance your cycling experience.

What Size Tire Is Best for Bicycle Touring?

When it comes to bicycle touring, one of the most important considerations is the size of the tires. The right tire size can make a significant difference in your overall experience on the road. For cyclists who predominantly ride on paved roads, a tire width of around 35c is generally considered ideal. This size strikes a balance between speed and comfort, allowing for efficient riding while still providing enough cushioning to absorb road vibrations.

However, some riders might prioritize speed over comfort, and for them, a narrower tire width may be more suitable. In these cases, a 32c tire can offer decreased rolling resistance and increased speed, but at the expense of some comfort. It’s important to note that going any smaller than 32c might compromise stability and control, especially on uneven surfaces, so it’s not recommended for bicycle touring.

For those embarking on tours that involve a mix of paved roads and dirt trails, a wider tire width is a better choice. A 40c tire can handle both the smooth surfaces of the roads and the uneven terrains of off-road paths. This size offers better traction, stability, and shock absorption, making it a safer and more comfortable option for such diverse conditions.

Additionally, considering the durability and puncture resistance of the tires can also play a role in determining the most suitable size for long-distance touring.

In conclusion, it’s evident that tire size plays a crucial role in the demanding challenges faced by cyclists in the Tour de France. The Vittoria Corsa Control tire has emerged as a particular favorite within the peloton, showcasing it’s exceptional performance and reliability throughout the race. As the Tour de France continues to push the limits of endurance and skill, tire selection remains a crucial element in ensuring success on the pave and beyond.

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What we learned by measuring tyre widths at the Tour de France

Verniers in hand, we found not all tyres measure like you might assume.

Tyres could be a metaphor for the entire Tour de France . On the face of it, not much has changed in the past half-century or more. In reality, nothing is still the same. Long gone are the skinny tubulars pumped up to within a fart of exploding, replaced by mostly 28 mm wide tubeless tyres run much softer.

So, with vernier callipers in hand, we decided to take a closer look at which tyres, specifically which tyre widths, the riders rely on as they do their big lap of France. While this test was far from exhaustive – we couldn’t measure every wheel and tyre combination at every team – we did find some interesting tyre choices and fascinating measured widths in the paddock at this year’s Tour de France.

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) has changed both halves of his tyre and wheel combo for 2023. Enve and Continental replace Campagnolo and Pirelli. The Slovenian national champ and two-time Tour winner is racing the road stages on Continental’s time trial-specific Grand Prix 5000 TT TR 28 mm tyres. However, these tyres blow up to a measured 31 mm wide on the Enve 4.5 SES with their 25 mm internal rim width. 31 mm wide tyres for road stages at the Tour de France? The cyclocross riders of just a decade ago must be in shock.

Groupama-FDJ’s tyre selection looks similar but is in fact quite different. The team is racing with tubeless 25 mm Continental GP5000 S TRs which we measured at 26 mm on these Shimano Dura-Ace C50 rims.

And then we come to the many wheels of Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma). The defending Tour champ rolled out for the pre-Tour team presentation on this Reserve 52|63 wheelset with the new 28 mm Vittoria Corsa Pros set up tubeless. With a 25 mm front and 24 mm rear internal rim width, the 28 mm tyres actually blow up to a measured 30 mm (although, I forgot to note if the measurement was taken on the front or rear.)

Mike Woods (Israel-Premier Tech) is definitely not riding Conti GP 5000s marked 28 mm, but measuring 30 mm front and rear on what appear to be new Black Inc low-profile climbing wheels.

A lot of teams are running some variation of Continental’s GP 5000 S TR tyres, including Movistar. With so many teams running the same tyre on various different rims, this does offer us the chance to compare rim-to-rim variances in tyre widths. These 28 mm tyres inflate to 31 mm on these Zipps with a 25 mm internal rim width.

The Specialized Turbo Cotton tyres belonging to Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) are stamped 28 mm and measure 28 mm on these Roval Alpinist wheels.

Another team, another GP 5000, another wheelset, these ones belonging to Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Circus- Wanty). These 28 mm tyres measured 30 mm on these Newmen SL R42 wheels with 21 mm internal rim width. 

Not everyone is running tubeless. Lidl-Trek had a mix of tubeless and clinchers fitted with Pirelli’s SmarTube lightweight TPU inner tubes.

Others were on tubeless, though.

Tony Gallopin and Mattias Skjelmose were both running tubeless setups with Pirelli’s P-Zero Race TLR tyres marked 28 mm and measuring 30 mm on Bontrager’s RSL 51 wheels with 23 mm internal rim. Alex Kirsch’s 28 mm tyres measured 29 mm on Bontrager’s RSL 37 rims with a 21 mm internal width.

AG2R Citroën is another team using Pirelli tyres. We measured Benoît Cosnefroy’s P-Zero Race tyres at 28 mm, matching the marked measurement on the tyre.

Tobias Halland Johannessen and the Uno-X squad are racing with Schwalbe Pro Ones stamped 25 mm but measuring 27 mm wide on DT Swiss ARC rims.

While we didn’t get a photo of his setup, we measured the Vittoria Corsa Pro on Jayco-AlUla’s Chris Harper’s bike at 30 mm – a 2 mm bump on the noted 28 mm width.

Cofidis was the only team running exclusively on tubulars when we ran around testing at the start of stage 2. Axel Zingle was riding 25 mm-wide tubs and Ion Izagirre was on 28s.

While those black rubber rings will never be the most exciting of discussing topics, they will always be the single point of contact between bike and road (all going well). The WorldTour peloton has long since copped on to the marginal gains in running wider and softer tyres. That trend may have slowed a little as most teams converge on the 28 mm solution. But as our findings here prove, a 28 is rarely just a 28 with tyres still growing as internals rims get wider and wider.

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Team DSM will not use adjustable pressure system at Paris-Roubaix

Despite gaining UCI approval, DSM push back adjustable tyre pressure test to Tour de France

After Team DSM’s in-race tyre management system caused much excitement across the cycling tech world, the team has decided to push back the maiden voyage of the system to the cobbled stage of Tour de France.

Dutch company Scope developed the technology in collaboration with Team DSM to allow riders to adjust their tyre pressure motion while riding, both inflating and deflating pressure.

This is done using an air reservoir housed within the hub, which is then linked via mechanical valves and a hose to the rim, and tubeless tyre. Via controls on the handlebar, tyre pressure can be altered electronically, and tracked in real time directly from a bike computer.

The news that the team planned to use the technology at such a major race was met with excitement across the cycling world, with many riders commenting on the potential of the technology in pre-race press conferences.

In-race tyre pressure 'management system' to be used at Paris-Roubaix by Team DSM WorldTour mechanics bemoan Shimano chain drops Mohoric: I've destroyed cycling, now everyone will use a dropper post

On Scope Cycling’s website, the product page includes images that appear to show Team DSM using Scope’s tyre-management system on their cobbled recon, but have since opted against using it at Paris-Roubaix .

In a press release from DSM , the team said, “Since 2020 Team DSM and Scope have been working on a tyre pressure management system that allows riders to inflate and deflate their tyres whilst on the bike. 

“This week on the cobbles has confirmed that we can be confident in the system and our overall setup, we have decided to make our debut at the TDF where we will race it at the cobble stage.”

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While there was evidently a long time spent in development of the technology, the UCI only approved the system for use in road racing on 1st April, perhaps meaning the team did not have time to test extensively ahead of the race.

At Paris-Roubaix, the release stated, “riders must be completely one with their bike and control all components intuitively.”

“We can’t wait to spend some more time riding with this system and be a part of what we are confident will be a huge movement in the sport.”

Elsewhere we have seen brands unveil new bikes and components at Paris-Roubaix, with Quickstep using hitherto unseen Specialized wheels and tyres, and Paris-Roubaix Femmes being won by Elisa Longo Borghini on an as-yet unreleased Trek Domane .

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Peter Stuart has been editor of Cyclingnews since March 2022, overseeing editorial output across all of Cyclingnews' digital touchpoints.

Before joining Cyclingnews, Peter was the digital editor of Rouleur magazine. Starting life as a freelance feature writer, with bylines in The Times and The Telegraph, he first entered cycling journalism in 2012, joining Cyclist magazine as staff writer. Peter has a background as an international rower, representing Great Britain at Under-23 level and at the Junior Rowing World Championships.

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Have we witnessed the death of tubular tyres? Why tubeless now rules the Tour de France peloton

First Published Jul 9, 2023

Many pro teams have made the switch to tubeless tyres, so is the age of the tubular finally over? We've done the research to check what equipment the teams are choosing to run and see just how many teams are clinging to the past. Let's take a look at the reasons why most have made the transition to tubeless and just how wide they are choosing to run their tyres these days. 

In recent years, we've seen a greater mix of tyre types in the pro peloton than ever before, but this year the majority of WorldTour teams are using tubeless systems. 

Gone is the era of rim brakes; are tubular tyres going to follow? All of the wheel sponsors of the teams competing in this year's Tour de France supply tubeless wheels. Eight of these teams use Shimano or Roval wheels, and most recently  Corima's new MCC Evo and WS Evo wheels offer tubeless hookless compatibility , giving all of the teams the option to run tubeless, depending on their tyre sponsor. 

Ideally, sponsors like to see riders using equipment that the public is likely to buy, and that means wheels that take clinchers/tubeless tyres since tubular wheel/tyre systems are impractical for most of us. 

Alpecin–Deceuninck, Arkéa–Samsic, Groupama-FDJ, Ineos Grenadiers and Team DSM all have access to Shimano's top-of-the-range Dura-Ace wheels: the C50 tubeless for flat stages, and the C36 tubeless for the mountains.

Bora-Hansgrohe, Soudal Quick-Step and TotalEnergies are all using Roval's wheels: the Rapide CLX for flat stages and the Alpinist CLX for the mountains. Nearly all the Rapide CLX wheelsets we've seen these teams using are the lighter first-generation version rather than the second-generation design. The first-generation wheels aren't compatible with tubeless tyres while the second-generation are. The teams don't need the beefed-up rim bed that the CLX IIs have because they were running clinchers on them. 

Team mechanics at the recent Critérium du Dauphiné told us that Specialized-sponsored teams opt for tubeless tyres in the wet – the S-Works Turbo RapidAir  – and normal clinchers in the dry – the Specialized Turbo Cotton tyre  (below) used with latex inner tubes. That's Julian Alaphilippe's bike pictured here.

> Check out the best road bike tyres 2023 

Tubeless tyres were by far the most popular option in both the men’s and women’s Paris Roubaix this year, but Jumbo-Visma's Wout van Aert stuck with tubular tyres despite the issues he had in the 2022 edition. 

The challenging terrains that come with the spring Classics have provided a fertile testing ground for teams, where there has been a major shift to the majority of riders using tubeless tyres. 

Jumbo-Visma were previous advocates of tubular tyres, but we spotted them opting for a tubeless setup for the first time in the 2022 Tour de France. They did, however, revert to tubular wheels and tyres for other stages. 

At this year's Critérium du Dauphiné, Jonas Vingegaard was using Vittoria Corsa Pro tubeless tyres (above) in a 28mm width. These tyres have been super-popular in the pro peloton since they were launched earlier in the year . 

> Vittoria claims new Corsa Pro is “the most advanced cotton road tyre ever made”

Jumbo-Visma was using the tubeless-ready Vittoria Corsa Speed tyre on its time trial bikes.

Movistar use hookless tubeless rims from Zipp for further weight savings. This (above) is Enric Mas' bike fitted with Zipp 454 NSW wheels and Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR tyres, for example (Mas had to pull out of the Tour de France after a crash on Stage 1).

Lidl-Trek, known as Trek-Segafredo until recently, uses tubeless tyres from Pirelli. These bikes (above) are fitted with Pirelli P Zero Race TLR tubeless tyres, for instance. 

Pirelli says that Mads Pedersen switches between P Zero TLR tubeless tyres and the tube-only version of the P Zero Race tyres with the brand's superlight TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane) P Zero SmarTubes inside.

> Read our review of the Pirelli P Zero SmarTube

As mentioned, Arkéa–Samsic uses tubeless tyres. You can see this Shimano Dura-Ace C50 wheel (above) set up with a Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR tyre at the Critérium du Dauphiné, for example.

However, they also use tubulars. This Bianchi Oltre RC (above) is again fitted with Shimano Dura-Ace C50 wheels but this time the tubular version with a Continental Competition ProLtd glued to the rim.

So why are we still seeing this non-committal approach from some teams? Simply, there are pros and cons to both setups:

Pros of tubeless

• Run with sealant inside, small punctures will mend as you ride 
• Faster - lower rolling resistance 
• No risk of pinch punctures 
• Comfier - can be run at lower pressures

Cons of tubeless 

• Installing tubeless tyres can be difficult 
• Can be heavier than tubular setups 
• Harder to ride when deflated than a tubular tyre
• Can be expensive 
• Sealant is less effective at high pressures

> Should you get tubeless tyres? Are they your best option?

The advantages of tubeless tyres have been known for some time and the main benefits for pro riders are that they are faster - which is why they are used quite so much in time trial stages - and the risk of puncturing is substantially reduced, so riders are less likely to be forced to the side of the road. 

It also gives riders the chance to change their tyre choice last minute. Unlike tubular tyres that have to be prepared and glued in advance, tubeless tyres can be swapped over quickly.

As well as this, most of the drawbacks that would impact whether you or I converted to tubeless are dealt with when you have a team of mechanics preparing your bike for you. Also, gluing tubular tyres on isn't the quickest and easiest job in the world.  

The number of tubeless tyres we see varies a little from stage to stage depending on the profile and weather. For example, some riders prefer a super-light tubular setup in the high mountains, if they have the choice.

> Buyer's guide to tubeless tyres

It used to be common for a team's domestiques to use tubeless tyres so that they're less likely to puncture and if they do, can continue riding while waiting for a spare wheel. 

On the other hand, team leaders were more likely to use tubular tyres because of the small weight advantage and the fact they rarely have to wait long for a spare wheel or bike as the team car is closer and they have the domestiques around them. 

As we've seen, though, Tour de France leader Jonas Vingegaard uses tubeless Vittoria Corsa Pros while second-placed rider Tadej Pogacar and his UAE Team Emirates teammate Adam Yates (bike pictured below) use Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR tubeless tyres on their Enve SES 4.5 wheels.

> Check out the best winter road bike tyres 2023 

In the 2022 Tour de France we still saw quite a lot of tubular tyres, but there are far fewer in the pro peloton this year. 

Groupama-FDJ was using tubulars last year but doesn't anymore, for instance. Here's one of the team's wheels set up with a Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR (above) at the Critérium du Dauphiné, for example. 

Astana Qazaqstan was holding out too, possibly because wheel supplier Corima was slow to embrace tubeless. The team started to use HED wheels with tubeless tyres (above), the relationship with Corima being non-exclusive.

Plus, Corima has now released the MCC EVO and WS EVO wheelsets, venturing into the tubeless market.

Why has it taken so long? 

Tubeless is by no means a new invention, mountain bikes having by and large moved over to this technology in the last decade. It has been available to road bikes for some time, though it has been slow to catch on, particularly in the world of pro cycling. 

Pro cyclists are notoriously resistant to change as they trust what they know and, well, we can't blame them. Back when 25mm tyres were becoming a thing, one French team asked its tyre sponsor to label all the new 25mm tyres as 23mm as they knew the riders wouldn't like the change but knew the wider tyres were faster.

Talking about tyre widths, these are something that we've seen get wider and wider, with the Vittoria Corsa Pro tyre that has been ridden to numerous pro wins since the start of the season coming in 26mm, 28mm, 30mm, 32mm, and even 34mm widths.

Gone are the days of the pros only wanting to ride 23mm tyres. At the recent Critérium du Dauphiné that we keep gibbering on about, we saw a lot of 26mm tyres but these were edged out slightly in terms of popularity by 28s. We even saw the occasional 30mm tyre fitted.

> Why you need to switch to wider tyres on your road bike

One further reason why some pros still like tubular tyres is because of the safety they offer in the event of a puncture. We've seen a few crashes where tubeless tyres have failed and fully dismounted from the rim.

This is very unlikely to happen with tubulars as the tyre is glued to the rim, meaning it should stay there when deflated, allowing the rider to continue riding at the back of the peloton while they wait for their team car. 

Tyre inserts were created, such as the Vittoria Air Liner, which provides tubeless tyres with a similar benefit, allowing you to ride on if you lose pressure in your tyres. This does mitigate the weight-saving gain of tubeless systems compared with standard clinchers. 

Is the game up for tubulars?

Tubeless has been getting its foothold in the pro peloton over the last few seasons and there's no better time to see the latest and greatest kit in action than in the opening stages of the Tour de France. 

Pic: Mark Cavendish Stage 6 2023 Tour de France © SWpix.com (t:a Photography Hub Ltd)

It wasn't so long ago that the pro peloton rolled exclusively on tubulars. Look around this year's Tour de France and they're not exactly a rarity, but they're certainly far less common than ever before.

> 2023 Tour de France bikes — your definitive guide to what the top pro cycling teams are riding this year

Are we likely to see tubulars disappear entirely from the Tour de France over the coming years? The tubular market is small and wheel and tyre brands are keen to showcase the technology that they sell to the public, and that means getting their tubeless and clincher systems raced as much as possible.

On top of that, riders are having plenty of success with newer tech so there's less of a reason to stick with tubulars. The peloton is getting gradually less wary. 

Tubeless tyres and sealants have got much better in recent years. High pressure-specific sealants are much more effective at plugging punctures in road tyres than was once the case, and the introduction of ETRTO (European Tyre and Rim Technical Organisation) standards has helped tubeless technology become more widely trusted. Plus, tubeless road tyres are now only slightly heavier than tube-type clinchers and no longer have the insanely stiff sidewalls they once had.

All of this means that tubeless technology is marching forwards. That said, change is usually pretty slow in pro cycling so we expect tubulars to be around for a while yet. 

Do you use tubeless tyres on the road? Let us know what you think of the technology in the comments section below... 

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Emily is our track and road racing specialist, having represented Great Britain at the World and European Track Championships. With a National Title up her sleeve, Emily has just completed her Master’s in Sports Psychology at Loughborough University where she raced for Elite Development Team, Loughborough Lightning.

Emily is our go-to for all things training and when not riding or racing bikes, you can find her online shopping or booking flights…the rest of the office is now considering painting their nails to see if that’s the secret to going fast…

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20 comments.

Having used the excellent Bontrager tubeless system (i.e. wheels, rimstrips and tyres from the same manufacturer) on my MTB for several years, it only seemed natural (to me, at least) to spec the road equivalent, when building my road bike. They have been excellent and have served me well for nearly 7 years - including several moderate off-road excursions, which the 26mm tyres coped with, admirably.

I'm interested to see that the Trek team are using Bontrager rims, but Pirelli tyres - must look into the difference between the Pirelli/Bontrager tyres, which I suspect is weight/price.

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If I'm reading this article correctly, the teams running the first-generation, not-tubeless-compatible Roval wheelsets are in fact running these wheels set up tubeless.

Being the owner of a Specialized Aethos with these wheels, I'd really like to know if these wheels can be run tubeless.  Specialized says no.   If the pros are descending at 60 mph on them and doing 1000 watt sprints, tubeless is good enough for me.

Mbailey1244 wrote: If I'm reading this article correctly, the teams running the first-generation, not-tubeless-compatible Roval wheelsets are in fact running these wheels set up tubeless. Being the owner of a Specialized Aethos with these wheels, I'd really like to know if these wheels can be run tubeless.  Specialized says no.   If the pros are descending at 60 mph on them and doing 1000 watt sprints, tubeless is good enough for me.

One suspects the marketing men have told the manufacturers that they can make loads-more dosh by insisting that our older rims are not approved for tubeless, as this means we all have to "suck it up and buy new wheels", to use the vernacular. 

One also suspects that the excuse for this stance will be that "older rims haven't been tested for tubeless use".  This is like saying you can't use your hand to pick up a manglewurzel 'cos you've only ever "trained" it to grasp turnips.

************

Perhaps some testing could be tried? If the tyre is a tightish fit on an unapproved rim, the rim has hooks and a deep enough well, surely tubeless tape and a tubeless valve will be sufficient to get a tubeless tyre inflated and well-seated? After all tubeless (especially on modern wider tyres) means less air pressure so less internal stress on the rim ..... ?

The only bugbear I can imagine is a rim that has woggerly edges or some other wabble that allows teeny gaps to open between the tyre's sidewall and the rim edge too big for the sealant to prevent air-loss.

Anyone out there with experience of using non-approved rims with tubeles tyres?

Cugel wrote: One suspects the marketing men have told the manufacturers that they can make loads-more dosh by insisting that our older rims are not approved for tubeless, as this means we all have to "suck it up and buy new wheels", to use the vernacular.  One also suspects that the excuse for this stance will be that "older rims haven't been tested for tubeless use".  This is like saying you can't use your hand to pick up a manglewurzel 'cos you've only ever "trained" it to grasp turnips. ************ Perhaps some testing could be tried? If the tyre is a tightish fit on an unapproved rim, the rim has hooks and a deep enough well, surely tubeless tape and a tubeless valve will be sufficient to get a tubeless tyre inflated and well-seated? After all tubeless (especially on modern wider tyres) means less air pressure so less internal stress on the rim ..... ? The only bugbear I can imagine is a rim that has woggerly edges or some other wabble that allows teeny gaps to open between the tyre's sidewall and the rim edge too big for the sealant to prevent air-loss. Anyone out there with experience of using non-approved rims with tubeles tyres?

I was chatting with a cycle shop owner/mechanic a while back and they were a proponent of 'ghetto' tubeless. He had setup tubeless on a variety of wheels and had the opinion that as long as either the rim or the tyre was 'tubeless', that it would work fine.

Yep. I ran a pair of Shimano RS-170 wheels with conti GP5000 TL's for about 9 months and I'm still here to tell the tale. Used Effetto Mariposa tape and sealant (as was already using these on my MTB's)...can't remember which valves. Didn't even need a compressor or my Airshot to seat the tyres (unlike when I fitted the same GP5000's on to a set of "tubeless ready" rims.

All three Spec' teams run Rapide CLX II and as far as I'm aware all of them apart from Sagan (for some reason) are running them as tubeless. The CLX II still only says 'CLX' so I suspect a wee bit of lazy journalism has created this confusion. 

First gen CLX can be run tubeless - but Spec' got the fear after Sagan (him again) popped a protoype, so the company decided to redesign the wheels for a second generation version. Their official line is now "CLX II tubeless or clincher, CLX clincher only".

I don't think its the Pro teams choice. Any new wheel that is released these day appears to exclusively have tubeless and disc rims. A quick glance on the Zipp site, there only two wheelsets that are tubeless. Pro team mechanics must surely prefer mounting tubeless in five minutes over the endless gluing required for tubular. While I love riding tubular, the gluing was such a PIA.

Plus there is the ecomomics, puncture a €80 tubular and its gone. Tubeless, top up with sealant and you are good to go.

Did the tubeless set ups manage to mitigate the effect of the dreaded tack attack?

Maybe it was a guerrilla marketing ploy?

ktache wrote: Did the tubeless set ups manage to mitigate the effect of the dreaded tack attack?

I'd be interested to know that too. Was it Lilian Calmejane who was angrily displaying a number of tacks stuck in his tyre? I didn't see any leaking sealant.

Yesterday I remounted an old and much-used GP5K TL on a wheel. While prepping the various parts, I nearly cut my finger on a sharp thorn protruding about a centimetre into the interior of the tyre, coated in dry sealant. God knows how long it had been there.

Couldn't care less what the pro's and their sponsors desire, I'll keep on using clinchers until such time that there is no viable option than to use tubeless.

Presently all of my wheels are set up for clinchers, why on earth should I spend ever more money trying to keep up with the whims of the marketeers. Am I missing a trick? Possibly. Do I give a shit? Not in the slightest.

So in answer to the article heading, no, not everyone is following the herd, certainly not for now.

Owd Big 'Ead wrote: Couldn't care less what the pro's and their sponsors desire, I'll keep on using clinchers until such time that there is no viable option than to use tubeless. ....... So in answer to the article heading, no, not everyone is following the herd, certainly not for now.

The article heading is "Have we witnessed the death of tubular tyres?" A tubular tyre is a completely sealed tube glued to the rim, previously much favoured by racers prior to the invention of tubeless clinchers. They have nothing to do with tubed  tyres, i.e. clinchers with an inner tube, which remain the norm for most people outside racing and will doubtless continue to be so.

TPU inner-tubes are an interesting development. Around ¼ of the weight of butyl inners, helps with weight, rolling resistance, etc. They were expensive to start with but ones from RideNow are well made and cost effecive. They take up very little space as spares too.

Tubular tyres have never been a good choice except for professional and top class amateurs who will get a swift wheel change in a race.

I recall the times, 291 years ago, when the racing fellows I trained and chain-ganged with sometimes chose tubular tyres "because the professionals use them" but found themselves having to call the taxi of shame when puncturing as there was no practical way to replace a tubular tyre out on the road except to carry a spare around your neck & shoulders and to spend half an hour or more getting the punctured tubular off and (maybe) the replacement on. They only tried that once!

Replacements done out on the road were, anyway, always in danger of rolling off again as they tended to rely on the glue left on the rim after getting the punctured tubular off.

Tubeless tyres have the virtue of greater resilience against punctures, as well as being technically good for all sorts of other benefits, from improved rolling resistance to comfort and grip. Now that things are settling down, standards-wise - and serious puncture fixing is better understood (along with mounting the things when new) - we'll surely see the gradual fading away of tubed clinchers ...... ?

One issue: what features of older clincher rims will support their use with tubeless tyres? Conversely, which features of such older rims are a risk to mounting tubeless tape, valves and tyres? I have 4 clincher wheelsets of high quality that I'd like to mount with tubeless tyres when the tubed tyres they have on them now wear out or degrade with age.

Cugel wrote: Tubular tyres have never been a good choice except for professional and top class amateurs who will get a swift wheel change in a race.

When I raced as a low class amateur in the 1970s-1990s tubulars were the only choice for race tyres because all other options had much higher rolling resistance, it is only recent design innovations on clinchers and tubeless that may have changed that, I still "feel" that tubs are better but test results seem to say differently.

Cugel wrote: I recall the times, 291 years ago, when the racing fellows I trained and chain-ganged with sometimes chose tubular tyres "because the professionals use them" but found themselves having to call the taxi of shame when puncturing as there was no practical way to replace a tubular tyre out on the road except to carry a spare around your neck & shoulders and to spend half an hour or more getting the punctured tubular off and (maybe) the replacement on. They only tried that once!

Must have been a bit of a wimp as we could change tubs quicker than clinchers and two folded tubs take less space strapped under the saddle than most current saddle packs.

Cugel wrote: Replacements done out on the road were, anyway, always in danger of rolling off again as they tended to rely on the glue left on the rim after getting the punctured tubular off.

Spare tubs were always pre glued and then folded once dry, that way they would stick after about 5 minutes and by the end of the ride would be as hard to remove as the punctured one.

Cugel wrote: Tubeless tyres have the virtue of greater resilience against punctures, as well as being technically good for all sorts of other benefits, from improved rolling resistance to comfort and grip. Now that things are settling down, standards-wise - and serious puncture fixing is better understood (along with mounting the things when new) - we'll surely see the gradual fading away of tubed clinchers ...... ?

From experience in our club rides tubeless are no more resilient to punctures than modern clinchers with the added fun of occasionally spraying everyone with sealant and having to remove a valve stem that is effectively glued to the rim in order to fit a tube to get home. 

Cugel wrote: One issue: what features of older clincher rims will support their use with tubeless tyres? Conversely, which features of such older rims are a risk to mounting tubeless tape, valves and tyres? I have 4 clincher wheelsets of high quality that I'd like to mount with tubeless tyres when the tubed tyres they have on them now wear out or degrade with age.

Can't be done safely due to manufacturing tolerances, suck it up and buy new rims if you really like tubeless.

Backladder wrote: When I raced as a low class amateur in the 1970s-1990s tubulars were the only choice for race tyres because all other options had much higher rolling resistance, it is only recent design innovations on clinchers and tubeless that may have changed that, I still "feel" that tubs are better but test results seem to say differently.

No  one talked of rolling resistance in the 70s did they? It's certainly true, though, that tubular tyres were faster than the clinchers of the time but, certainly by the 80s, few but the best (or most well-off) of amateurs used tubular tyres because of the expense and the faff involved.

Tubulars were expensive to buy; needed sending off to an expert to be puncture mended (and any tears to the often delicate things were not really mendable); and required a lot of skill, time and expertise to glue properly on the rims.

Backladder wrote: ..... we could change tubs quicker than clinchers and two folded tubs take less space strapped under the saddle than most current saddle packs. Spare tubs were always pre glued and then folded once dry, that way they would stick after about 5 minutes and by the end of the ride would be as hard to remove as the punctured one.

Backladder wrote: From experience in our club rides tubeless are no more resilient to punctures than modern clinchers with the added fun of occasionally spraying everyone with sealant and having to remove a valve stem that is effectively glued to the rim in order to fit a tube to get home. 

Have you all been buying only substandard tubeless tyres, then? I have seen a couple of major tubelss punctures involving the sprayed sealant but the ratio of these to the tubed-tyre punctures I've seen in exactly the same period, over five or six years of club cycling, has been at least 10:1 in favour of the tubeless.

Once you've grasped the mechanics of mounting and dismounting tubeless tyres, it's just as easy as are tubed tyres. Tight tubeless valve removal needs only the right teeny gripping tool to loosen the often tight lockring, for instance.

Backladder wrote: [Using rims not designated for tubeless] Can't be done safely due to manufacturing tolerances, suck it up and buy new rims if you really like tubeless.

Are you sure?  Which manufacturing tolerances of what aspects of the wheel rims? I can't spot any obvious differences between wheels meant for tubed clinchers and those meant for tubeless, other than the rim tape and a label.

Cugel wrote: Backladder wrote: [Using rims not designated for tubeless] Can't be done safely due to manufacturing tolerances, suck it up and buy new rims if you really like tubeless.

Isn't the difference with the precise shape of the rim 'hooks' so that the tyre beads stay in place? The rim bed is probably slightly different, but that can be resolved by adding more tubeless rim tape.

hawkinspeter wrote: Cugel wrote: Backladder wrote: [Using rims not designated for tubeless] Can't be done safely due to manufacturing tolerances, suck it up and buy new rims if you really like tubeless.

I know some rims have a hump in the rim bed to help tyre retention but I don't believe it is compulsory, I think the main difference is consistency on the rim wall diameter as on clinchers some rims are easy to fit tyres and others hard, with tubeless they all seem hard

Cugel wrote: Backladder wrote: When I raced as a low class amateur in the 1970s-1990s tubulars were the only choice for race tyres because all other options had much higher rolling resistance, it is only recent design innovations on clinchers and tubeless that may have changed that, I still "feel" that tubs are better but test results seem to say differently.

No  one talked of rolling resistance in the 70s did they? It's certainly true, though, that tubular tyres were faster than the clinchers of the time but, certainly by the 80s, few but the best (or most well-off) of amateurs used tubular tyres because of the expense and the faff involved.

Tubulars were expensive to buy; needed sending off to an expert to be puncture mended (and any tears to the often delicate things were not really mendable); and required a lot of skill, time and expertise to glue properly on the rims.

Not sure where you are but in NW England we were using tubs up to the early 90's when I stopped riding temporarily.

Once you start racing on tubs you end up using them for training and then club runs as you swap them off your racing wheels before they are worn out and then put them on training wheels to get the rest of the life out of them, that minimises your punctures in races and gives you practice changing tyres on club runs. I mended a few myself back in the day but getting the tension right when re-stitching to get the tyre to hold a consistant size was tricky.

Cugel wrote: Backladder wrote: ..... we could change tubs quicker than clinchers and two folded tubs take less space strapped under the saddle than most current saddle packs. Spare tubs were always pre glued and then folded once dry, that way they would stick after about 5 minutes and by the end of the ride would be as hard to remove as the punctured one.

No racing mechanics but experienced amateur racers, plus the incentive that we could'nt afford a taxi and if we took too long the rest of the club might ride off and leave us.

Cugel wrote: Backladder wrote: From experience in our club rides tubeless are no more resilient to punctures than modern clinchers with the added fun of occasionally spraying everyone with sealant and having to remove a valve stem that is effectively glued to the rim in order to fit a tube to get home. 

Once you've grasped the mechanics of mounting and dismounting tubeless tyres, it's just as easy as are tubed tyres. Tight tubeless valve removal needs only the right teeny gripping tool to loosen the often tight lockring, for instance.

I don't use tubeless on the road myself, only on mtb so I don't have any say in what tyres are used on the club runs or how well they are fitted but over the last two years we've fitted as many tubes to tubeless tyres as we have changed tubes in clinchers and most of our riders are still using clinchers. I don't doubt it will get better but I don't think tubeless is better than clinchers yet.

It is not the locking ring for the valve but the tapered seal being wedged in the hole and assisted by sealant, twice I have had to find a flat stone to hit a valve to get it to release.

You mention grasping the mechanics of mounting tubeless but most of the modern riders can't even adjust rim brakes or indexed gears, many of them think the brake quick release lever is the brake adjuster! 

Cugel wrote: Backladder wrote: [Using rims not designated for tubeless] Can't be done safely due to manufacturing tolerances, suck it up and buy new rims if you really like tubeless.

see response to Hawkinspeter above.

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