Since I was young I was excited to watch the F1 races: fast cars, passion, innovation, it came all together in F1: Pirelli for me was always this iconic Italian race brand that was pushing the boundaries on tyre design to make the F1 cars go faster every time. Innovation, passion, design, all combined in this historical race brand.
When Pirelli announced its return to the cycling world in 2017 this raised expectations that this iconic Italian race tyre brand would at some point join the pro racing scene. I am very proud that Pirelli’s entry into pro cycling is going to be this weekend at the Amstel Gold Race on the 3T Strada with the Aqua Blue Sport team, the first team ever racing on 1x road bikes.
Top-level racing has always been part of Pirelli’s DNA and, to make its comeback to pro cycling, the company choose the bike and the team that has made a reputation for its daring technical choices. Innovation and vision are, in fact, two traits that Pirelli has in common with 3T and Aqua Blue Sport.
With this first collaboration agreement, Pirelli brings to cycling its unique approach to technical partnering. As it has done with all its top-notch sports partners, with 3T and the Aqua Blue Sport team Pirelli has entered into an agreement that is meant to serve first and foremost as an opportunity for growth and R&D work on the product. Pirelli’s role in sports partnerships, in fact, does not consist solely of providing branded tyres, it entails genuine technical collaboration and an on-going exchange of feedback with the teams, leading to the development of specific and unique tyre solutions. At the Amstel Gold Race, and the races that will follow, additional new solutions will be tested in actual racing conditions, to provide increasingly performing tubulars to the team. A close technical collaboration will make it possible to collect valuable data and feedback for the development of the tubulars that Pirelli will eventually present to the market.
For Aqua Blue Sport, Pirelli has developed a new, specific tubular tyre, which the team has been testing in recent months, in various contexts and on-road tests. It is a 28 mm tyre, specially developed to maximise the aerodynamic characteristics of the 3T Strada. When training, instead, the Aqua Blue Sport team uses the 28 mm PZero Velo tyres already available on the market.
Like the PZero Velo clinchers, the new Pirelli tubulars for Aqua Blue Sport have been developed with the aid of a proprietary technology, and the compounds are produced by Pirelli in their Slatina plant, in Romania, where the tyres for F1 single-seaters are also made.
Looking forward to work with Pirelli on ever better equipment to enhance the performance of the Aqua Blue Sport riders!
