Is it the end of the road for the tubular tyre?

Tubeless tyres eclipsed tubs on the proving ground of Paris-Roubaix, writes Luke Friend

- Luke Friend

If the peloton's switch en masse to tubeless tyres at last October's Paris-Roubaix represented a watershed moment for the technology, then this year's race provided its affirmation.

Like in 2021, the winners of the men's and women's races, Ineos's Dylan van Baarle and Trek-Segafredo's Elisa Longo Borghini, did so riding tubeless set-ups. But once again it was the sheer number of riders who'd turned their backs on tubulars that really stood out. Of all the Classics, Paris-Roubaix was seen as a true tubular stronghold. Despite almost every other component of the bike changing or adapting over the years, tubs remained a constant for professional bike racers; literally and figuratively the glue that bound them.

However, the changing landscape is now impossible to ignore. Van Baarle's win was the latest in a hot stretch for tubeless set-ups on the men's WorldTour that includes Tadej Pogačar at Strade Bianche, Biniam Girmay at GhentWevelgem and Mathieu van der Poel at the Tour of Flanders.

When we asked the Movistar team if tubeless technology was the future of the sport they were adamant in their reply. “I will say it's not the future, it's the present," a team representative told CW. “It's still not a perfect system but it's close to it."

Movistar work alongside team sponsors Zipp and Continental in trialling tubeless set-ups. Ahead of last year's Roubaix, the entire team, both men and women, switched to tubeless tyres - 30mm on the front, 32mm on the rear - after a series of revealing tests on the notorious Trouée d'Arenberg sector of cobbles which pitted tubeless against the team's favoured tubular set-ups.