Continental Launches 35mm GP5000 S TR as Paris-Roubaix Tire Arms Race Reaches New Heights
Continental has officially escalated the Paris-Roubaix tire arms race with the March 10 launch of a 35mm version of its GP5000 S TR folding road tire, alongside a new GP5000 TT TR in 30mm. The 35mm variant weighs just 380g and retails for $128.95, representing a significant move toward wider, lower-pressure setups that are becoming standard for elite cobble specialists. The timing—just days before Paris-Roubaix 2026 on April 12—signals that the tire size wars have officially accelerated.
The trend toward wider tires stems from a simple physics equation: wider rubber allows riders to run lower pressure without sacrificing speed or increasing rolling resistance. On Paris-Roubaix's notoriously brutal cobbled sectors and high-speed gravel sections, lower pressures translate to superior traction, comfort, and control. Mathieu van der Poel, the event's back-to-back winner in 2024 and 2025, has proven that 32mm tires are sufficient to dominate—but Continental's new 35mm option raises the ceiling for what's possible. The increased volume allows riders to maintain composure through impacts that would otherwise threaten wheel integrity or cause pinch flats on traditional narrower compounds.
Tadej Pogacar and UAE Team Emirates have been among the most aggressive adopters of wide-tire strategies, pushing Colnago Y1Rs to structural limits with GP5000 S TR sizes approaching 35mm widths. To create additional space in the chainstays, Pogacar has experimented with single-chainring setups on his cobble bikes—a radical departure from traditional gearing that underscores just how far teams are willing to push equipment boundaries for marginal gains. Meanwhile, Lidl-Trek ran 32mm tires that measured a generous 34.5mm when mounted on wide-profile rims, demonstrating the gap between nominal and actual tire widths.
The UCI's 700mm total wheel diameter limit creates an indirect cap on tire width, as larger tire volumes push the rim-and-tire assembly toward that regulatory ceiling. This regulation effectively penalizes true-aero wheel builders who want to use deeper rim profiles while maintaining proportional tire volume. Continental's 35mm GP5000 S TR edges riders closer to that limit, forcing teams to choose between the aerodynamic benefits of deeper rims and the traction advantages of wider tires. For Paris-Roubaix, traction will almost certainly win that calculation on the 54.8km of cobbled pavé spread across 30 distinct sectors.
The competitive landscape shifted dramatically this season when Gravaa, a Dutch startup that had developed a revolutionary self-inflating tire pressure system, filed for bankruptcy. Visma-Lease a Bike had been the early adopter of Gravaa's technology, viewing it as a secret weapon for Roubaix and similar cobble races. The system automatically adjusted tire pressure based on real-time feedback from vibration sensors, allowing riders to maintain optimal compliance through varying surface types. With Gravaa's collapse, that technological edge has evaporated, leaving teams to rely on more traditional setup strategies and pre-race pressure calculations.
For Paris-Roubaix on April 12, the 35mm GP5000 S TR will likely become the de facto standard among contenders. Van der Poel and Pogacar are predictable to run Continental's newest offering, with backup bikes equipped with both the 35mm and traditional 32mm options to accommodate tactically shifting course conditions. The tire arms race is far from over—and with Continental's latest release, the battle for equipment supremacy on cycling's roughest terrain has only intensified.
Teams with less access to bespoke equipment or custom wheel builds will rely on tried-and-tested 32mm setups from previous seasons. Yet the message from Continental's release is unmistakable: in 2026, bigger is better. Whether that translates to faster times on April 12 remains to be seen, but the world's best riders are betting their classics hopes on it.