popeye

VeloNews

Deceuninck-Quick-Step to race the Tour of Flanders on clinchers

Deceuninck-Quick-Step will race on clincher tires at Sunday’s Tour of Flanders.

Julian Alaphilippe and Co. will use Specialized clincher tires for the cobblestone monument after three years of increasingly using the system rather than the more commonly used tubular setup.



“After one ‘transition’ year of testing, and with already several years racing clinchers in TT as the fastest option, in 2021 we decided to move forward with clinchers for all types of racing,” said team technical and development manager Ricardo Scheidecker.

“Based on the data we have collected from extensive testing, we arrived to the level of being very comfortable with our choice knowing that we have the fastest setups, even for the demanding cobbled classics,” he continued. “Clinchers are part of the future in terms of performance and the combination with the new generation of Roval wheels is perfect. ”

After a recon of the cobbles Friday, the team has opted to use Roval Rapide CLX wheels with Specialized Turbo Cotton ‘Hell of the North” clinchers. The tires are 28mm wide and feature a 320TPI casing which Specialized states provides “a 15 percent improvement in damping over traditional clinchers, while shaving rolling resistance by 20 percent over other tires designed for rough roads.”

That means compared to gatorskins

datlas 

Tubeless? I would suspect so.

Lazyass

I do not think the Turbo Cotton's are tubeless tires. They're open tubulars but they say nothing about being tubeless compatible. They're actually the same 320tpi tire as the Turbo tubular version except they have a bead to use on a clincher rim instead of being sewn together. I'm sure the team mechanic is happy.

datlas 

Interesting. I would have suspected they would want tubeless to prevent pinch flats. Especially on cobbles.

Lazyass

They can still have sealant in the tube. Just squirt it through the valve. I do the same thing with tubulars. I'd rather have that setup than a tubeless tire. My experience in setting up tubeless tires still gives me nightmares.

dmanthree

Those are tubed tires. I wonder if they were worried about breaking the bead as much as pinch flats? Just a guess...

dmanthree

I had issues with them, as well. But isn't there some new system that allows for easier mounting now? Rims with special hooked beads that obviate the need for special inflation devices to seat them?

colnago62

Some rim manufacturers, Zipp and Enve for example, have developed hookless rims. I don’t know much about them, though.

Lazyass

Just trying to mount the tire, not to mention remove, can be an unforgettable experience. They can be so tight it should be criminal.

DaveSSS 

I had no problems at all installing my mivhelin 28mm tubeless tires on 19mm internal width fulcrum racing 3 wheels. I've also practiced breaking
a bead to install a tube, if needed to fix a cut tire. No problems.

Hapsmo911

This is madness! I am predicting DNF for the entire team! Next they will be riding rim brakes!!! The horor!!!!

bruce19

This is what I have used for 3 yrs. No flats. No issues.

Seattle Forrest

And getting out of a clipless pedal!!

surak

You know the saying, tight tubeless ready tires are criminal, and only criminals have bead jacks.

Kimmo 

Pros on cobbles, on clinchers. WTF...

I guess the mechanics have a strong union.

Hiro11

It's bizarre that the new Rovals are not tubeless-ready.

I suspect within five years all pro teams will be on tubeless, likely with some type of CushCore-type insert like Vittoria makes.

znomit

How much do Specy pay them?

surak

Nailed it!

popeye

OH the horror.

The Tour of Flanders was won on tubed clinchers

I'm warning you, rim brakes are next.

dmanthree

I guess those professional riders and mechanics haven't ben keeping up with this forum. The fools.

:-)

merlinextraligh

I’ve ridden both the Tour of Flanders, and the Paris Roubaix courses. The cobbles on Flanders are really not that big of pinch flat concern. They’re slippery and a bit bumpy but really not that rough.

Paris Roubaix is a different beast, with some of the cobbled sections extremely rough. Hell, the arenberg forest is just a series of boulders and mud holes between them. Calling some of the Paris Roubaix sections cobbled does the word cobbled a disservice.

Thus when the postponed Paris Roubaix is run, I wonder whether they’ll still use this setup
Thus, I wonder whether they’ll use

smashndash

https://www.specialized.com/us/en/tu...north/p/184050

The 28mm Turbo Cotton is called "Hell of the North" and claims to be designed for Paris-Roubaix. But it's based on the tubular with the same name. I won't be shocked if Specialized busts out the CLX 50 tubulars for that race.

popeye

"Specialized and Roval have gone all-in with a move away from tubular technology"

"The optimal clincher setup generally tests faster than tubulars in rolling resistance tests, but for years pro teams worried about the inability to ride a clincher flat, an issue when a rider flats and the team car is a ways off. Tubeless tires ran into similar resistance, but are gaining acceptance.

Specialized-sponsored teams are unique at the moment in their experimentation with the lowly clincher (in road race events), the type of tire and tube system used by the vast majority of amateurs that until a few years ago was rarely seen in the pro ranks. We recently had a deep dive conversation with members of the Deceuninck-Quickstep team and Roval engineering about these decisions."

Hiro11

As I said above, I have no idea why Specialized made the new Rovals non-tubeless-ready. That automatically is a deal killer for many buyers.

Secondly, I have no idea why pro teams are wavering on tubeless. If you have a tire setup that provably lowers both rolling resistance and the chance of flatting, why would you not want that? Also, as tubeless reduces the likelihood of flats fairly dramatically, the whole "you can't ride a flat on clinchers" idea is less of an issue than it would be with non-tubeless tires. Also, tubeless tire beads are far tighter than non-tubeless clincher beads which seems to lessen that possibility. I chalk all of this up to pro teams being too hidebound and tradition-bound to move to tubeless.

I listened to this podcast last week. There was no justification in it for not just going to tubeless. Also, the DQS guys talked a lot without saying anything.

deacon mark

Most riders I know and some on rec.tech.bicycles do not ride tubeless tires. I had posted a poll on it but had it removed due to some strong comments. For myself I cannot at all see tubeless being better for pure road riding. Disk brakes make sense in situations but no always better. We are not pros so have to come up with a compromise. I can ride my tube conti pg5000 at a comfortable pressure 90-95psi rear. If I was screeming down a long descent I would rather have disk due to my poor descending skills.