Pirelli PZero Velo Tyres

Paul Horta-Hopkins

Pirelli Tyres returning to cycling with the launch of their PZero Velo line of racing tyres.

A recent press release announced the return of Pirelli to cycling with a range of high performance tyres designed for road racing bikes.

Images of the PZero Velo tyres are very rare

While Pirelli were a partner at the very first Giro d’Italia and the choice of thirty of the forty-nine finishers, they have been absent from cycling for a long time. They have since gone on to produce a range of Formula 1 tyres that go under the name of PZero. This brand name is also used in motorcycles and road cars to denote high quality tyres, though I can’t confirm either way as my knowledge of Formula 1 and Superbikes is pretty non-existent. However, the racing pedigree is certainly there and presumably the same ethos and technology will be used in the new PZero Velo range.

The new PZero Velo tyres will be colour coded depending on their intended use. The colour codes of the new tyres will evoke “PZero’s language from Formula One”. There will be three colours: silver for Road Racing, red for Time Trials and blue for Four Seasons. The latter is presumably aimed at wet weather riding, rather than pizza!

Pirelli’s sponsorship of the Giro hinted at the new launch

Antonella Lauriola, COO Business Unit Velo Pirelli said, “We are excited about this return to cycling. For our bike tyres, we draw on a unique heritage of knowledge, technology and sporting experience. Pirelli’s offer today is completed with tyres made for those consumers who look for innovative and technological bike products as they do for their cars and bikes. We chose to start from the racing segment, which is the most challenging in technical terms, but also the most consistent with our race-marked history. ”

A new website, Veloworld has been set up to “tell stories from the world of two wheels.” Unfortunately there’s no info about the actual tyres yet, although one story tells of a Paris-Modena multi-stage event that had some of the riders on the new PZero Velo tyres. And not just any riders; a certain Mr Indurain took part!

Some riders got to try the PZero Velo tyres on the Paris-Modena sportive

It looks like Pirelli will be releasing racing tyres first with the tyres being available in September. It will be good to see this famous brand, Fausto Coppi’s choice no less, back on the road. We will endeavour to get hold of a set as soon as possible and let you know how they perform.

Veloworld

[rps-include blog=127.0.0.1 post=31230]