Continental Grand Prix 5000 - Special Edition Tour de France 2020

The Continental Grand Prix 5000 is a hugely popular road tyre and, in honour of the 2020 Tour de France, it's got a stylish new look. This limited-edition 'cream' sidewall is only available in 25mm clincher though, which is sure to upset fans of both tubeless and wide tyres. It has substance as well as style, rolls and grips extremely well, and did we mention it has style...?

This limited edition is extremely similar to the standard GP5000 clincher, and uses the BlackChilli compound, a Vectran Breaker puncture protection layer, and three layers of 110tpi casing. The creaminess – some would call it tan – adds a claimed 30g over the standard 25mm clincher (255g vs 225g), though the road.cc scales say 245g for a 20g increase.

Why are they heavier? They're painted. I'm sure it's a lot more technical than that, but in essence these are painted Vulcanized rubber tyres rather than cotton walls, which are naturally tan coloured.

Continental isn't alone in doing this – Schwalbe offer similar products. To some, this concept sounds absolutely absurd, whilst others will give an arm and a leg to roll up to the café with their bike looking just so.

Racing beige

Although in my eyes the painted-on cream isn't quite a match for a proper tan wall aesthetically, it is much easier to wipe clean, meaning your tyres look new for longer.

Whilst I'm perfectly happy on 'boring' black tyres, I've been amazed and also slightly concerned at just how excited some people get about these. I can confidently say these are the most conversation-provoking tyres I have ever used.

If you're not fussed about the cream (would you eat cream that colour?) or conversations about rubber, the standard GP5000 is available tubeless and non-tubeless in 23mm to 32mm widths, and in both 700c and 650b diameters.

Get it on

This tyre blows up true to size on today's average wheels, measuring exactly 25mm on my 19mm internal width rims. By contrast they come up at 26.3mm on my Roval Rapide CLX wheels with their massive 21mm rims.

Fitting isn't as easy as some, but this could have just been that I was unfortunate with my rim choices. Either way the first fitment resulted in some pretty sore thumbs before reaching for a tyre lever to get the stubborn and rather tough bead over the lip of the wheel.

Having removed and refitted them a week later, they loosened up a bit, making the fitment process a lot easier.

Sticky situation

I'm afraid to say that the next part is as predictable as the GP5000's grip, which is very good... it really is hard to find fault with a tyre that does everything quite so well.

Take these out in the dry and traction is great, but more impressive is the wet weather grip. I found them much more confidence inspiring in the wet than the Schwalbe Pro-One for instance, which, although excellent in the dry, has a tendency to slip on moist climbs.

As far as rolling speed is concerned, they feel proper fast and this is backed up by strong results in independent testing. Bicycle Rolling Resistance's results show the GP5000 non-tubeless is not only significantly faster than the old GP4000S II, but nearly as quick as the Grand Prix TT, which should be reserved for just racing.

First but lasts

And that brings me on to my next point – durability. Although the rolling rivals race tyres, the GP5000 can be used for day to day training.

After a month of testing my set is showing very few signs of use, and I can't think of any tyres this quick that will last as long. S-Works Turbo Cottons – nope, Vittoria Corsa Speed – nah, Pirelli P Zero Velo TT – not a chance. Plus during the test I had the grand total of zero punctures, though as with all tyres that is partly down to luck.

> 40 of the best road bike tyres - rubber for speed, durability and puncture resistance

For my 70kg weight I found 85psi worked best in the dry, and at this pressure comfort is impressive although not class leading.

At £59.95 this tyre compares reasonably to much of its competition, such as the £54.99 Vittoria Corsa G2.0 or to a lesser degree the Goodyear Eagle F1 at £45 – though in reality it's far less likely to be discounted (at the time of writing, for instance, the standard £59.99 GP5000 can be had for around £35).

Overall

The Continental Grand Prix 5000 grips really well in both the wet and dry, rolls like a race tyre yet can be used every day. This limited-edition version is great if you want to ride the same tyre as everyone else (for good reason) without looking like everybody else – so long as you're after a 25mm tubed tyre, anyway.

Verdict

Fast, grippy and durable tyre with cool retro looks – shame there's only one width, though