Originally Posted by
Leisesturm
The little I know about pro road-racing comes from the days when, if a rider flatted, a team mechanic quickly got a new wheel/tire combination into the bike and the rider was back to it with as little time lost as possible. Has that changed? Are pro roadies now using the kinds of tires and pressures that allow sealant to work in the way most of you use it? My gut says no. My educated guess says pro teams are not using much, if any, sealant in tubeless race tires, because if they flat, wheel/tire replacement has still got to be faster than finishing on a tire that is 10psi to 20psi down from optimal because of a (self sealed) puncture.
I'd be surprised if any pro teams are running tubeless setups without sealant. The main benefit over tubulars is the flat protection. They'll still swap bikes/tires if there's pressure loss, but being able to continue riding until there's a good time to do that swap is a major benefit.
Most (if not all) pro teams are running tubeless for the majority of stage races now:
https://www.cyclingnews.com/features...hat-with-what/
2021 marked the last year a stage was won with rim brakes. The 2023 men's Tour had the feel that not only might it be the last time a separate bar and stem would top the podium, but also the last time that tubular tyres and inner tubes would too. Tubeless setups won 18 stages, with tubs taking two thanks to Cofidis, and inner tubes claimed one thanks to Mads Pederson and his team's sponsor Pirelli, whose 'Smartube' TPU inner tubes are preferred by some riders.
Given that Cofidis will almost certainly be using tubeless wheels next year thanks to
new models from Corima (and that they only win stages every 15 years) it’s likely that tubeless may make a clean sweep in 2024. This may rile some curmudgeonly readers up, and also my colleague Tom, but road tubeless is here to stay and dominates things at the top end. Tubular tyres are as good as dead, and inner tubes may well simply fade into the lower end of tyre tech as time progresses.
As per the integrated cockpits, every single stage of the Tour de France Femmes was won on tubeless tyres. A small sample size, again yes, but it's also hard to comprehend a future edition of the TDFF where stages are won with inner tubes or tubular tyres.