hokiefyd 

I can't find much information on this. Is there knowledge of which teams are running which tires (besides obvious sponsorships)? From what I can tell, Continental and Vittoria are rather popular. Do a lot of guys ride Michelin as well?

Wildwood 

In the article linked below, from pre-season descriptions, each team's bikes are broken down by vendor. No chart for easy reference, but Continental gets mentioned most, then Vittoria, Specialized do their own tires, Schwalbe got one mention.

https://roadcyclinguk.com/gear/gear-...vias-disc.html

Many teams have no tires listed, so the list is incomplete. Veloflex were seen in the classics, not sure about TdF. Michelin got no mentions, but they must be represented, too.

It's the best I could find quickly.

here's another, more recent date.

2017 WorldTour bikes guide - Cycling Weekly

Giacomo 1 

Very little seems to be made of any of the equipment used in the pro peloton, let alone the tires. You rarely if ever hear commentators speak of what brand of bikes or group sets the pro's use or what bike and setup the winner of a stage used.

Car racing is much different in comparison, where the equipment and setup is mentioned as much as the driver.

seypat

The Tour De France website has links to each teams websites. There is a sponsors list on each team website.

Teams - The riders, videos, photos - Tour de France 2017

merlinextraligh

Ethos of cycling is it's about the rider not the bike.

Motorsports is more about both man and machine.

Motorsports, the car can make a huge difference; bike racing, the bike, not so much, particularly with UCI rules.

hokiefyd 

Thanks for this perspective. I've never really had much exposure to bike racing before, but have watched and experienced a lot of auto racing, where the equipment often IS much of the focus.

I guess I'm wondering how or even if some of those notions cross over into bike racing. Do they use rain-specific tires (maybe with a different compound) if they know the pavement will be wet? If so, I imagine that each of the tire suppliers (like Conti and Vittoria) produce various versions of their race tire models. It seems like everyone runs Shimano Dura Ace, at least everything I've seen suggests that -- I don't think I've seen Sram in the TDF coverage.

Although a lot of this stuff is certainly still sponsored (tires, components, etc), it is different for me to observe a sport where it's at least as much about the athlete as it is about the equipment (I've never really watched other athlete-centric sports like swimming, track, etc). Psychology of the sport is fascinating to me, especially how the peloton is referred to as one being, as if it has a single conscience. They talk about break-aways, and whether or not "the peloton" will allow it, or how long "the peloton" will let them go.

Very interesting, indeed.

HardyWeinberg

When there are more cobble stages they talk more about using wider tires and lowering the pressure more. Maybe even different frames. I don't think I've heard them talking about choosing different tires for rainy days though.

They never talk about tubular vs clincher, I believe it is 100% the former at all times.

Wildwood 

Here ya go.
Tire info.


Tires of the Tour de France | Cyclingnews.com

merlinextraligh

There have been some racing tires formulatedfor wet weather grip. I don't think they get a lot of use.


Typical answer is just drop the tire pressure 10 pounds or so to increase the size of the contact patch.


Clinchers vs Tubulars. It's close to 100 percent tubulars at the TDF level, mostly because you can ride tubulars flat,and are less likely to come off the rim with a blow out descending. ( that and European pros are creatures of habit)


There has been some use of clinchers, particularly in time trials, given the data that suggests clinchers can have lower rolling resistance.

hokiefyd 

I understand that tubular tires sometimes offer an aerodynamic advantage as they sometimes have a smoother transition between the tire and the rim (without the sometimes deep gap there with clinchers). Maybe race clinchers have extra material there to fill that gap, though (similar in concept to "rim protectors" on some automotive/truck tires).

HardyWeinberg

They did talk today in about Dan Martin having trouble after his first crash Sunday because he needed a neutral support wheel which had a 25mm tire instead of the 28 he was using.

I was wondering about magnets for computers, do team wheels all have magnets in the same place on all wheels, or do they just manage to do w/o that kind of data in the event that something happens if a wheel swap is needed?

Campag4life

They could communize the magnet interface from wheel to wheel...or do away with magnets and simply use GPS bike computers which use a satellite to tell them how fast they are going. Not sure they need the metric of speed anyway. Some may ride without power meter as well and some and not all use heart rate.

HardyWeinberg

Most of them seem to have something like a cadence sensor on their chainstay, maybe they don't use magnets for anything else. And yeah, some use HRMs but a lot don't unless they use something different from the traditional chest strap.