Vittoria has announced a new range of 'Wide Rim Optimised' tyres, designed to deliver optimum aerodynamic performance on – you guessed it – wide rims.
The Italian brand says it developed these tyres in conjunction with Team Visma | Lease a Bike and one of its star riders, Wout van Aert.
At launch, the Wide Rim Optimised range consists of two tyres – the Corsa Pro TLR and the Corsa N.EXT TLR – in a single, 700x29c size, intended for use on rims with an internal width of 25mm.
A Wide Rim Optimised Corsa Speed TLR time trial tyre is also set to follow “in the coming months”.
A perfect and cohesive profile
Vittoria says the combination of its Wide Rim Optimised tyres and a 25mm-wide rim offers “a perfect and cohesive profile which minimizes micro-turbulence”, thereby reducing drag and improving performance.
According to the brand, the difference can be as great as five watts at 55kph, compared to a 28c tyre on a ‘standard’ 19mm-wide rim.
It also says the change in tyre profile affords slightly better grip and puncture resistance, although it notes they're slightly heavier and less comfortable than its 28 or 30c tyres.
It’s fair to say the concept of using Wide Rim Optimised to manage the airflow off tyres is well established in road cycling.
During his time at Zipp, for example, Silca’s Josh Poertner coined ‘the rule of 105’ – which states the rim should be 105 per cent of the width of the tyre for optimal aero performance – although that 'rule' concerned the external width of a rim, not its internal width.
Vittoria says the Wide Rim Optimised versions of the tyres will cost as follows:
- Vittoria Corsa N.EXT Wide Rim Optimised: €71.95 / $91.99
- Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR Wide Rim Optimised: €95.95 / $106.99
- Vittoria Corsa Pro Speed TLR Wide Rim Optimised: €95.95 / $106.99
These new tyres can be used on rims with narrower internal widths, although the tyres will size up smaller than 29mm wide, Vittoria says. All three of the tyres are tubeless-ready and compatible with hookless rims.
Vittoria claims a Corsa Pro TLR Wide Rim Optimised tyre will weigh 290g, around 15g more than a standard 28c version, with a Corsa N.EXT Wide Rim Optimised coming in at 310g.
Is there more here than meets the eye?
Given Vittoria already had 28 and 30c tyres in its ranges, you could be forgiven for thinking the addition of a 29c option was a slightly odd turn of events.
However, it’s worth casting our minds back to Thomas De Gendt’s crash at the UAE Tour in February 2024, which saw his front tyre dismount from its rim.
At the time, the Belgian was running 28c Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR tyres on Zipp 353 NSW wheels – which have a 25mm internal rim width.
At the time, this combination was ‘approved’ by Zipp, Vittoria and the UCI (the sport’s governing body).
Vittoria also claimed the incident had been caused by a damaged rim, as opposed to any compatibility issue with De Gendt's equipment.
The issue was complicated, though, by the fact that the latest international standards (issued by the ETRTO and ISO) stated the minimum nominal tyre size for a 25mm internal width rim was 29c.
Following the incident, the UCI issued a statement reminding teams that its technical regulations “imposes compliance” with the relevant ISO standards in this area.
While most teams using 25mm-wide rims simply switched up to 30c tyres, or paired their 28c tyres with narrower rims, we spotted a set of 29c Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR tyres on Jonas Vingegaard’s Cervélo R5 at the 2024 Tour de France.
At the time, we speculated Vittoria had created this to satisfy the demands of its pro teams – and it looks as if we were right.
