Prototype Pirelli tyres finally launched: New P Zero Race TLR RS in action at the Giro d’Italia

Close up of the new Pirelli P Zero Race TLR RR tyres.

Presuming you’ve been paying attention to the world of cycling tech this year, you’ll have surely seen the prototype Pirelli tyres in use by Lidl-Trek from the very start of the Classics season. Today, Pirelli has finally launched the tyres to consumers, and the Lidl-Trek team will no longer be on prototype versions, but fully-fledged consumer-spec P Zero Race TLR RS tyres.

They are the latest top-end road tyre from Pirelli, and they take aim squarely at the best road bike tyres on the market, with marked improvements in rolling resistance over the brand's current top-end tyre, the P Zero Race TLR. 

The new tyre uses the same tread pattern as the current P Zero Race TLR (Image credit: Zac Williams)

Same tread, with an improved rubber compound

Pirelli tyres, at the top end of the road line at least, share a more or less uniform pattern of sipes (the grooves that allow the rubber to move, heat up, and add grip). The new P Zero Race TLR RS is no different in this regard, sharing the same tread as the P Zero Race TLR, but Pirelli says that it has used a new, improved version of its SmartEVO2 compound, which offers improvements in straight-line speed and grip in the corners. 

Under the upgraded rubber tread lies a lightened version of Pirelli’s SpeedCore casing. The combination of the new rubber and lighter casing has resulted in an 8% drop in total weight over the P Zero Race TLR, and a hefty 16% improvement in rolling resistance, according to the brand. A back-of-the-envelope calculation based on data from Bicycle Rolling Resistance puts it about a watt slower than the Continental GP5000 S TR, but actual tests are yet to be performed. 

In less performance-oriented updates, the tyre bead has been overhauled too, with a new bead shape and a new arrangement of Kevlar fibres in a bid to maximise compatibility with both hooked and hookless rim systems.

An improved rubber compound is complemented by a lighter casing, resulting in an 8% weight reduction and a 16% lower rolling resistance.  (Image credit: Zac Williams)

Pricing, sizes, and availability

The new P Zero Race TLR RS will be available in 700x26c, 28c, 30c, and 32c sizes. All sizes are tubeless-ready, but the 26c size is not hookless compatible. A 28c tyre weighs in at 290g.

They will be priced suitably in line with the competition at £84.99 / $99.90 / €89.90 / AU$144.90.

(Image credit: Zac Williams)