Cycling News

Pirelli’s best-ever race tyre? – P Zero Race Tub SL

27 April 2021
the5krunner

Pirelli's Best-Ever Race Tyre? - P Zero Race Tub SlPirelli P Zero Race Tub SL tyres use plastic inner tube

Pirelli’s latest pro tyre for the 2021 Giro is the Pirelli P Zero Race SL tubular.

The 2021 Giro d’Italia will see it used by Simon Yates and Esteban Chaves for Team BikeExchange, Nibali’s Trek-Segafredo and AG2R Citröen.

What’s special?

Following the same technology as Tubolito and Schwalbe’s Aerothan, Pirelli has used a thermoplastic inner to replace the butyl or latex that is normally used in race tubs.

How will it affect me?

It won’t. YOU probably don’t use tubs and even if you did you probably wouldn’t fork out £100 a tyre on one of these. This is more of a ‘pro thing’ than a consumer thing.

That said, I’m down to my last tub and the tyre needs to come off for a trueing. IT would be rude not to add a raster race tyre, so #Maybe.

Will it make them faster?

Hmm. Yes, probably a bit faster.

The tyres are 35g/10% lighter than before giving a tyre weight of 275g. The latest-generation SmartEVO Compound is used, we see the 320 TPI construction and overall the handling and grip will probably be unchanged.

There will probably also be near-zero pressure loss if used over longer races.

Why is it faster?

It’s a combination of lower spinning weight (think acceleration and marginal absolute weight) and a better rolling resistance (think friction between the layers of the tyres construction).

 

Last Updated on 25 January 2026 by the5krunner

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