Riders at the Tour de France were running tyres as thin as 25mm, and as wide as 32mm, as they took on the gravel roads on stage nine.
Sunday's stage around Troyes, won by TotalEnergies rider Anthony Turgis, counted 14 gravel sectors, totalling 32km of the 199km route.
In order to maximise comfort, and reduce the risk of punctures, a handful of teams decided to size up to 32mm tyres, 4mm wider than the set-ups they have been using over the first week of racing. Among those riding 32mms were Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, Lidl-Trek, Alpecin-Deceuninck and TotalEnergies.
Speaking to Cycling Weekly ahead of the stage, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe mechanic Kevin Grove explained the team's decision came after doing five recons of the stage route.
"It's definitely a different gravel from what people are used to. I think it may catch some teams off guard if they haven't really done a full reconnaissance of it. The gravel is different from Strade Bianche gravel. That's why we chose the 32mms," he said.
The bikes of the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe riders were fitted with S-Works's Mondo tyre, at a lower pressure than usual, down from 5 bar (72psi) to around 4.5 bar (65psi).
"It's a little more safe riding over the sharp stones," Grove explained. "You can hopefully take more of the bumps a little faster. If you chose the wrong line, you're a little safer having a 32mm, having lower pressure."
Alpecin-Deceuninck, the team of world champion Mathieu van der Poel and former gravel world champion Gianni Vermeersch, also sized up; in addition, they swapped tyres, from Vittoria's Corsa Speed, to the brand's Corsa Pro Control.
"This is the same tyre we use for Paris-Roubaix," team mechanic Stijn Vandenberghe said. "This is more of a gravel tyre than the other one. On the road, it has a bit less rolling [speed], but for all the sectors, it will be ok. The Control tyres have a little bit more grip on the side.
"On the gravel, you can have a lot more flat tyres," Vandenberghe continued. "We try to minimise this with the 32mm tyres. At Roubaix, we had no flats, so that's why we're doing this again here."
Not all teams decided to run 32mm tyres, though. Wandering through the team paddock, Cycling Weekly spotted a number of teams using 30mm tyres, such as EF Education EasyPost, dsm-firmenich PostNL and Bahrain Victorious.
Remco Evenepoel's Soudal Quick-Step chose to stick with their usual set-up, trusting in the 28mm tyres that they have been running throughout the race. One of the team's mechanics explained this decision came after a recon of the gravel, when it was agreed to favour the tarmacked sections, which make up the majority of the stage.
The skinniest tyres Cycling Weekly noticed in the paddock belonged to Cofidis rider Axel Zingle. While his team-mates ran 28mm set-ups, the Frenchman went for 25mms, leaving a hefty distance between his tyres and forks.
"I prefer them like this," he said as he made his way to the start line. "It's to go faster!"
