Spotted at the Tour de France: New Continental GP5000 TT tyres

As we wandered the paddock during the opening stage of the 2022 Tour de France, we spotted a new tyre wrapped around the time trial wheels of several teams racing with Continental tyres. The tyres of both Ineos Grenadiers and Bahrain Victorious bore a TT twist to the GP 5000 logo.

Now, just as we were reaching for our electronic mailing apps to ask for more details, Continental beat us to it by officially announcing the new tyres in a press release already sitting in my electronic mailbox.

The new tyres are officially named the Continental GP 5000 TT TdF and are a limited-edition speed-focused offering. The tyres are officially available as of July 1, and Continental is claiming some impressive performance benefits from the new rubber.

Available in 25 mm only, the new tyre is 35 grams lighter than the GP 5000 S TR unveiled just last year, weighing in at 215 g per tyre. Filippo Ganna rode that tyre to Time Trial World Championships gold in September and in bad news for non-Conti-teams, the new tyre is said to be 17 seconds faster over a 40 km TT than the S TR version.

Continental claims this improved performance is down to the reduced weight and an optimised tread thickness and construction to reduce material deformation at the contact point between road and tyre.

Interestingly the tread pattern looks identical to the current GP 5000 range, so presumably, all that speed has been found in a new compound formula.

The new tyre is also tubeless and hookless compatible and also features Conti’s Black Chilli compound and Vectran breaker liquid crystal polymers to aid in puncture protection and tear resistance.

The other bad news is this: first, there is no tan wall option; and secondly, the new offering is priced at €99.99 per tyre.

For more information, visit Conti-bicycletires.com.