Pirelli is launching its new P ZERO RACE TLR RS (Racing Speed), billed as its best performing road cycling tyre. The Italian company adds that the new offering is… ‘made for racing bikes and cyclists seeking top performance results from their bikes, at the level of professionals.’
Starting at yesterday’s stage of the 107th Giro d’Italia, the World Tour team Lidl-Trek has officially adopted this new tyre.
The American male and female Lidl-Trek teams have been competing with the TLR RS since the beginning of the season (displaying the Pirelli label #prototype), and have already collected over 70 podiums. These include a second place on the Strade Bianche race and the Women’s Strade Bianche, a second place in the Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes, as well as a second and third place at the Paris-Roubaix Femmes and the Paris-Roubaix respectively.
P ZERO RACE TLR RS is the latest evolution of the P ZERO Race bike tyres produced in Pirelli’s Milan-Bollate plant in Italy. This newest product is at the top of Pirelli’s hi-performance road range and has been designed and developed specifically for competitions.
According to Pirelli… ‘The new tyre has a strong racing spirit; its focus is on grip, in any weather condition, as well as excellent handling when braking, accelerating and with curves, very low rolling resistance and less weight.’
P ZERO RACE TLR RS uses the SmartEVO2 compound. Produced in the same Pirelli plants that create the brand’s motorsport compounds, SmartEVO2 is the result of a ‘smart polymer compound’, i.e. chemically treated to enhance the functions of the various polymeric chains – created to simultaneously offer the tyre grip and speed, which now have been further improved.
P ZERO RACE TLR RS features a lighter version of Pirelli’s patented SpeedCORE casing technology. The thickness of the tread and the structure’s fabric layers have been modified to reduce weight (-8% compared to the P ZERO RACE TLR) and contribute, together with the compound, to significantly reducing rolling resistance (-16% rolling resistance compared to the already high-performing P ZERO RACE TLR).
P ZERO RACE TLR RS is a tubeless-ready tyre equipped with a new bead, whose geometry and internal structure, made with a different arrangement of the Kevlar strands, has been re-engineered to allow the best compatibility of the tyre with the latest-generation rims, whether hooked or hookless.
The proximity between Pirelli’s R&D department, in Milan, and the renovated factory in Bollate, has enabled the fast and efficient development of this new tyre, which reportedly took less than six months to be designed.
Prototypes have been tested and validated both in the lab and using virtual development models (available to Pirelli and commonly used in the automotive sector) at Pirelli’s Indoor Testing centre, and on the road. Joint tests between the team of Pirelli testers and the Lidl-Trek athletes took place riding downhill on Mount Etna in Sicily and through the Arenberg Forest in France.
P ZERO RACE TLR RS is available in sizes 26-622, 28-622, 30-622 and 32-622.
