Tubular tyres vs. tubeless tyres
Nostalgia is when beliefs and emotions transfigure reality - as is the case with tubular tyres. Today we know that this type of tyre, where the inner tube is sewn into the casing and the whole thing is glued to a rim, rolls dramatically worse than modern folding or tubeless tyres, which 99.9 percent of amateur athletes use. Until last year, however, professionals still believed that they were better off with glued tyres, at least in the high mountains.
Why? Primarily because the system consisting of tyre and rim is at least 200 grams lighter than rim plus tyre. Tubeless tyres or Clincher. This in turn is mainly due to the rim. The tubular rim has no sidewall to hold the tyre, which makes it 100 grams lighter. As professional bikes are often somewhat overweight - i.e. they weigh more than the prescribed minimum weight of 6.8 kilograms - it is tempting to save weight with lighter tyres.
Less weight is not everything
We have examined various racing situations with computer simulations and mathematically adjusted the tyre pressures to the tyre types for comparable suspension behaviour. The resultAlthough the wider tubeless tyres rolled through the simulations with less pressure, they were superior in all race situations. The time advantages range from ten seconds on a final climb to several minutes for breakaways on a long escape. On normal climbs, the low additional weight of tubeless tyres is more than compensated for by their lighter rolling. Only on extreme gradients of 22 percent or more does the lighter tubular tyre have a tiny advantage. Good conventional folding tyres are just as advantageous as tubeless tyres.
One of the first top pros to say goodbye to glued tyres, at least in his special discipline, was Tony Martin. Inspired by TOUR articles that showed that tubular tyres roll comparatively badly, the four-time world time trial champion was already experimenting with folding tyres at a time when other professionals were still giving the supposed hobby material a wide berth. That was around ten years ago, and a lot has happened to the material since then. Disc brakes have replaced rim brakes, and modern rims are increasingly being developed just for folding and tubeless tyres. The rims have become wider and now also incorporate 28 millimetre wide tyres in such a way that they can be used in time trials without any aerodynamic disadvantages.
Victory with little pressure
Nevertheless, most professional cyclists are still rolling on tubular tyres in 2021. However, manufacturer Continental, which unlike tubeless pioneer Schwalbe is heavily involved in road cycling, is observing a change in thinking. Product manager Jan-Niklas Voß, who maintains contact with the six professional teams sponsored by Conti, summarises:
Last year, I told the teams that riding tubeless would give you a competitive advantage. Tubeless will be normal in 2022."
The Paris-Roubaix classic at the beginning of October 2021 was an impressive demonstration of tubeless. Britain's Lizzie Deignan won the women's race on Pirelli's tubeless tyres, while Sonny Colbrelli rode Conti's tubeless tyres with a width of 32 millimetres to victory in the men's race. The strategy of both winning athletes: low tyre pressure. Deignan claimed to have ridden with 2.3 bar, Colbrelli with 3.4 and 3.8 bar respectively. Colbrelli crossed the finish line with punctures on the front and rear tyres, but the sealing milk limited the air losses.
Until recently, tubular tyres were considered the only option on bumpy surfaces because they can be ridden with less pressure than clinchers. Tubeless tyres are now outperforming them all, even if they are not completely immune to punctures.
Rethinking in the peloton
Such eye-catching victories and the teams' own tests are likely to cause a rethink in the peloton. Before Paris-Roubaix, Filippo Ganna from Team Ineos had already won the World Championship individual time trial on Conti's tubeless tyres; his team-mate Dylan van Baarle rode to second place in the World Championship road race, also on tubeless tyres. Even Julian Alaphilippe, who was still riding on clinchers when he won the World Championships - the tyre choice of his Quick-Step team since 2020 - used tubeless prototypes at Strade Bianche this year.
Our test of the two Continental models 5000 S TR (tubeless) and Competition ALX (tubular) shows how much lighter the tubeless tyres roll in comparison with tubular tyres, the latter in the professional version with an even lighter rolling latex tube, which is not available on the market. In terms of rolling resistance, the 5000 S TR beats the ALX by far. While the tubeless tyre is one of the fastest ever, especially in the 28 millimetre wide version, the professional tubular tyre rolls at the level of mid-range folding tyres.
Convincing arguments
While tubeless tyres are getting better and better - thinner, lighter and faster - the technical development of tubular tyres is stagnating. One of the last real innovations dates back to 2011, when Mavic aerodynamically clad the transition between tubular tyre and rim with a cover - which was immediately banned.
An interesting fact: tyre manufacturer Vittoria, which produces the Corsa Speed tubeless model, the fastest tyre that TOUR has ever tested, recently bought the Dutch tyre manufacturer Dugast, which produces tubular tyres in a very traditional way. In 2021, of the seven World Tour teams sponsored by Vittoria, only Education First was regularly seen on tubeless tyres.
From a performance perspective, the matter is clear: tubeless tyres are better because they are faster under all circumstances. If the rims and tyres are optimally matched to each other, the assembly work for the team mechanics should also be reduced compared to gluing on tubular tyres. In addition, tubeless tyres, especially those 28 millimetres and wider, can be adapted very well to the road conditions via the air pressure. Merida development manager Jürgen Falke describes his observations of the Bahrain-Victorious team, which is equipped by the bike manufacturer: "Progressive riders like Heinrich Haussler and young guns like Matej Mohoric were already riding completely tubeless in 2021. They will convince riders who are a little more conservative." Mohoric in particular provides very convincing arguments for this - he has just won Milan-San Remo 2022 on tubeless tyres.
Interview
Jan-Niklas Voß, product manager for road tyres at Continental, who also maintains contact with the six teams sponsored by Conti, on the arrival of tubeless tyres in the professional peloton.
TOUR: Does the tubular tyre still have a future?
Voss: We will continue to sell tubular tyres as long as there is demand, but in 2022 all our teams will mainly be riding tubeless.
TOUR: What convinced the teams?
Voss: Own field tests. The teams now have performance managers. Since the teams have been testing themselves, it is no longer an issue, the advantages are too obvious.
TOUR: How was the development at Ineos?
Voß: We supplied the 5000 S TR tubeless tyres for training and they were very well received. The team then rode tubeless tyres for the first time in the Vuelta time trial, after which they switched over completely.
TOUR: How do the mechanics cope with tubeless?
Voss: Different. Some teams already have a lot of experience with tubeless, for example Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert. It works very well there.
TOUR: What tyre width will we see in the big races like the Tour de France?
Voss: Narrow tyres are no longer an issue in road racing. 25 to 30 millimetres are the norm, and with correspondingly wide rims, these tyres are also aerodynamically fast.
TOUR: What tyre pressure will the pros be riding with at the Tour de France?
Voss: In 28mm tubeless tyres we will see pressures between 5 and 6.5 bar.
TOUR: Are there fewer punctures with tubeless?
Voss: Basically yes. But at Paris-Roubaix 2021 we had such poor conditions that there were an uncharacteristically high number of punctures despite tubeless. At very low pressures, the puncture resistance of the carcass is somewhat lower. For Strade Bianche, we therefore advised a little more pressure and no punctures.
TOUR: Are tubeless tyres also an issue on the track?
Voss: Definitely. Together with FES*, we developed special tyres for the women's quad at the Olympics. The most recent attempts at the world hour record would also have been more successful with tubeless tyres.
