In The Know Cycling

The Vittoria Corsa Pro G2.0 TLR is my answer to the question: What tubeless tire would you ever want to ride beside the Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR?

Vittoria appears to have combined the superior handling, grip, and comfort of the cotton casing historically used in tubulars and some clinchers into a tubeless tire that’s sufficiently aero and easy to install.

And, unlike other cotton tires where the tread is glued on the casing, the Vittoria Corsa Pro’s tread is heat bonded or “vulcanized.” Independent testers, including Bicycle Rolling Resistance and Aerocoach, show that its tire-loss rolling resistance puts it in the same top tier as the Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR and Michelin Power Cup TLR, likely due in part to that process.

Putting the characteristics, numbers, and comparisons aside, riding the Vittoria Corsa Pro gives you the confidence to do things you might not usually try or succeed on other everyday training and racing tubeless tires.

Cornering hard, riding bumpy pavement, or racing in the rain like a pro, they take you to the next level.

Miles, my P-1-2 fellow tester, did training rides, fast group rides, and a couple of races on the Corsa Pro.

For him, they had great straight-line speed and excelled on bumpy terrain. Dropping the pressure a few psi before the start of a wet criterium, he felt “supremely confident” on a hard left-hand turn at the bottom of a downhill on every lap.

All this while “overcoming the limitations” of a very rigid, budget-priced carbon wheelset I had mounted them on.

His review notes included this memorable line: “To be honest, I never really found this tire’s limits.”

My most memorable ride on the Vittoria Corsa Pro was at the inaugural Tour de Cider Donuts, a mixed A and B-level club ride with a ton of climbing and a half dozen stops at apple orchards to fuel up on… cider donuts. The ride felt like a series of 7-10 mile sugar-powered intervals over less than smooth pavement covered in spots by leaves, pine cones, and needles that had fallen in the previous night’s rain.

Knowing I would ride above my usual speed (mixed group rides always seem to move at the pace of the faster riders), I mounted these tires on some light climbing wheels and hoped for the best.

The Corsa Pro’s comfort and supple road feel made me smile as soon as I started rolling. Their grip and speed allowed me to hang with the group until I dropped back after the first couple of donut stops to get some video of my friends in the C group.

Throughout the ride, I worried that the worn roads along the route, the rough ones entering the orchards, and the leaves and pine cones I rode over might flat one of my tires.

Not an issue. Indeed, the puncture tests done by BRR show the Vittoria Corsa Pro falls in the same range as the Conti GP 5K S tubeless tires. And while I need to pump them up before each ride, similar once again to what I need to do with the Conti’s, they don’t seem to lose air during the ride.

But since they have a cotton casing, they wear faster than most tubeless tires, right? While we’ve found that true with the cotton Veloflex Corsa Race TLR tires, that’s not been our experience with these Vittorias.

Given their US$105, £90, €88 price, the race-day riding experience they give you, and how hard it is not to think of all cotton tires as fragile, it’s natural to think you should save these for your fastest days on the smoothest surfaces.

I get it, and I won’t blame you if you want to do that. Me? I haven’t taken them off the wheels I love to ride when I’m not testing others or when it’s time to show up for a fast group ride.

You can order the Vittoria Corsa Pro G2.0 TLR tires using these links to Competitive Cyclist, BTD (BikeTiresDirect), Performance Bike, Amazon, Sigma Sports, and BikeInn.

See how these tires compare to others in my review of the Best Tubeless Tires.

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Thanks, and enjoy your rides safely! Cheers, Steve