Vast improvements in tyre technology over the past decade have contributed to professional cycling’s higher average speeds, as traditional tubulars have been sidelined by faster-rolling tubeless tyres.
With the sealant requiring maintenance and teams often choosing the raciest and most fragile versions available, this is a recipe for regular check-ups and replacement.
But how many tyres do teams use at the Tour de France? Are the stars lucky enough to ride a new set every stage? We asked Vittoria, Continental and UAE Emirates-XRG.
(Image credit: Aaron Borrill)
How Tour de France teams maintain tyres
“Tyres are cleaned and checked every evening after each stage and replaced approximately every three to five days depending on the road conditions,” says Tommaso Cappella, project manager and team liaison at Vittoria. “With the new tyre, sealant is also applied fresh, to guarantee the best safety and performance.”
The Italian brand supplies eight teams with tyres at the Tour de France. Each team has eight riders. If we exclude spare bikes from our calculations, that means one team is changing between 32 and 56 tyres during the race, and 256 to 448 Vittoria tyres swapped in total.
Cappella says 90 per cent of the tyres Vittoria sent to teams this year are 700x30c. If we assume each gets 40ml of sealant, team mechanics will pour in between 10 and 18 litres of the stuff by the time the race reaches Paris.
(Image credit: Aaron Borrill)
Continental supports seven teams at the Tour, who can choose from the Aero 111, GP5000 S TR, and GP5000 TT TR. Despite nominally being a time-trial tyre, the latter is the most popular across all stages, as riders seek speed over puncture protection. This isn’t a big concern on the race route, where riders often encounter freshly laid tarmac.
A Continental spokesperson said: “For the TT TR, teams are mostly racing the 28mm and 30mm versions, depending on the preference of the athletes. The Aero 111 is being used least frequently, and when it is, it’s the 29mm version.”
In terms of maintenance, a UAE Emirates-XRG mechanic told us they check sealant every rest day, and top up as required. The team is exclusively using the GP5000 TT TR in 28mm or 30mm width, depending on rider preference. We even saw Tadej Pogačar going as narrow as 25mm on his Colnago TT2 at the team time trial in Barcelona.
(Image credit: Aaron Borrill)
UAE Emirates-XRG doesn’t replace tyres at set intervals. Instead, mechanics fit brand-new tyres at the start of the race, then change them based on road conditions, temperature, and any damage. They estimate they swap a total of 30-40 tyres in the race. This broadly corresponds to Vittoria-sponsored teams’ practices and would require 240 to 320 tyres and 10-13 litres of sealant for all the Continental teams. combined.
With that much work involving tyres to do alongside checking and changing other components, it’s no wonder Tour de France mechanics work such long hours.
Explore More
