Omloop het Nieuwsblad is the first Spring Classic of the season and it’s the first time we get to see how the pro riders are setting up their bikes for the cobbles ahead.
While we don’t see the same kind of hacks we used to, those cobbles mean riders tweak their setups to ensure comfort and minimise the risk of punctures.
What the teams and riders opt to do with their tyres remains one of the most intriguing aspects of Classics tech – and probably the most applicable to everyday riders aiming to avoid fixing punctures and achieve a little more comfort out on the road.
So, with that in mind, here’s our rundown of the tyre takeaways from Belgium’s Omloop het Nieuwsblad.
30mm tyres are the popular choice
Our tour of the team’s bikes showed that 30mm-wide tyres were by-and-large the norm at this year’s Omloop.
Mathieu van der Poel won the men’s race using 30mm Pirelli P Zero Race TLR RS tyres, which were also used by the rest of his Alpecin teammates. Meanwhile, all teams that use Vittoria’s tyres were running 30mm Corsa Pro TLRs.
Most Specialized teams used the unreleased – but much leaked – Turbo Cotton SLRs in 30mm, yet a few opted for the 32mm-wide version, including Demi Vollering, the winner of the women’s race.
There were only two teams that appeared to have narrower tyres at this year’s race. Lidl-Trek’s women’s squad used 28mm Pirelli tyres and UAE Team Emirates XRG had 28mm Continental GP5000 TT TR tyres fitted to their spare bikes, although they used 30mm Continental Archetypes on their first bikes.
Everyone was on tubeless
Despite some variation in widths, there was one uniting tyre trend at Omloop: all teams were using tubeless tyres.
The shift from tubular to tubeless tyres has been one of the most notable tech changes at the Spring Classics in recent years. Lizzie Deignan won the inaugural Paris–Roubaix Femmes in 2021 using tubeless tyres and Dylan van Baarle won the men’s Hell of the North using the tech the following year.
While tubeless tyres have become common across all road bike racing, there have been problems with the tech – including at this year’s Omloop.
Jayco-AlUla’s Amaury Capiot's tubeless Cadex Aero Cotton tyre came off his rim and his rear wheel failed after he rode for too long on cobbles with a flat tyre. Capiot miraculously avoided injury and finished the race almost 10 minutes behind van der Poel.
Glued-on tyres
Capiot may wonder why his team didn’t take the same approach as Visma–Lease a Bike. The Dutch team glued its tubeless tyres to the rims of the Reserve 42|49 Turbulent Aero wheels.
Visma–Lease a Bike did the same thing at the 2025 Paris–Roubaix to minimise the risk of tyres coming off the rim in the event of a puncture.
The team used the Gravaa KAPS self-inflating tyre system at last year’s Paris–Roubaix, which meant they could not use tubular tyre liners. Glued-on tyres therefore became a solution to avoid the potentially catastrophic problems Capiot experienced.
Despite Gravaa announcing bankruptcy in January 2026, Visma–Lease a Bike has stuck with sticking tyres.
Pressure sensors
Gravaa’s demise might mean riders can’t increase tyre pressure on the fly, but a few at Omloop were able to see if they were losing pressure.
Several teams used Zipp 303 SW wheels, launched in May last year, with integrated pressure sensors. The pressure sensor sits in the rim and transmits your tyre pressure to your bike computer via Bluetooth.
The sensors mean you’ll be warned if you start to lose pressure, which could prove useful for pro riders, who would need to alert their team for a wheel change or new bike, even if the tech is a luxury for the rest of us.
Tyre choice is less extreme than Paris–Roubaix
One thing that’s apparent from Omloop is tyre choice is less extreme than at Paris–Roubaix, which is likely to do with just how demanding the Hell of the North is compared to other races.
The revised 2026 Paris–Roubaix routes for the men’s and women’s pelotons are longer than Omloop. Its cobbled sections are also more difficult than those you find in the Belgian classics, such as Omloop and the Tour of Flanders. BikeRadar contributor Charlie Allenby returned from the Paris–Roubaix Challenge and described the experience as “pure agony”.
The widest tyre we saw at Omloop was 32mm, but 30mm was the more popular choice. Yet, at Paris–Roubaix, widths have ballooned to 34mm in recent years with riders also choosing tyres with more grip over the fastest options to help deal with the harshest cobbled sectors, such as Trouée d’Arenberg and Carrefour de l'Arbre.
But despite the differences, it seems almost all teams have moved on from 28mm tyres at the Classics and tubeless is now ubiquitous.
