Nope. I never did find out what the culprit was, but I'm as sure as can be that it wasn't a pinch.... not after 70+ miles on that ride, and not after the several months of trouble-free riding I had on that nearly brand new tire. The most logical conclusion that I could come up with (with some help from BF) was that it was either a factory defect, or something had gotten lodged between the tire and brake and started a small tear on the sidewall which eventually lead to it exploding. That was 20-some-thousand miles ago and, other than the occasional puncture (it's been nearly a year since I had one of those, knock on wood....), haven't had a problem with my Contis since then, and the 4kS is still my favorite tire.