Road Bike Tire Test: Continental Archetype 30

Tadej Pogacar has won this year's Tour de France on Continental Archetype tires, and they are available to the public as a limited edition TdF tire. The Archetype was developed in collaboration with the UAE Team Emirates pro-team and Pogacar himself, making it a tire that meets the needs of pro teams and pro riders. Considering this year's Tour de France was the fastest ever, and Pogacar made it look easy, they must have done something right.

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When we look at Continental's press release about the Tour de France win, they mention both the Archetype and their GP5000 TT TR (read our review) as the winning tires. We're not sure which tires were used on each stage, but it's interesting to see the Archetype complements the GP 5000 TT TR in Continental's lineup. We also tested the GP5000 TT TR last year, and our tests and review will make it clear how these tires differ from each other.

The first thing we noticed and found surprising is that Continental indicates the Archetype is their fastest tire ever, and that means it's faster than the GP5000 TT TR. When we look at the tire specifications, the 30 mm Archetype is heavier at 275 grams than the GP5000 TT TR in the 28 mm size, coming in at 245 grams. There is no 30 mm GP 5000 TT TR, but we estimate that it should come in somewhere around 255 to 260 grams. This means the Archetype isn't simply a trimmed-down GP5000 TT TR.

What the Archetype is: it's essentially a trimmed-down regular GP5000 S TR with the anti-puncture strip removed, a bit less tread thickness, and possibly an even more optimized Black Chili compound. The GP5000 S TR / Archetype casing is heavier than the GP5000 TT TR casing as it uses just two layers under the tread and three-layer sidewalls, while the GP5000 TT TR is two layers (+Vectran breaker) under the tread and thinner two-layer sidewalls.

The Archetype essentially has a weaker tread but stronger sidewalls than the GP5000 TT TR.

This means Continental could create an even faster tire by taking the GP5000 TT TR casing and removing the Vectran breaker and some tread as well. They didn't go this way as this tire was developed together with the UAE Team Emirates pro team and Tadej Pogacar, and they must have concluded the standard GP5000 S TR casing was a better fit for winning world tour races.

We can see how that works with tubeless-ready tires, as sidewall punctures are usually hard to seal with sealant alone. In contrast, tread punctures either seal or result in a slow leak, giving the team enough time to respond with either a new wheel or a change to another bike. You can see the requirements for pro teams with vast resources, and an amateur cyclist with no support is different, and it makes a difference when picking the right tire for the job.

Next to the Archetype, Continental has quite a broad lineup of road bike tires: Grand Prix 5000 S TR (read our review), Grand Prix 5000 TT TR (read our review), Grand Prix 5000 All Season (read our review), and Aero 111 (read our review). Luckily, we've tested all of those tires, and it will make for an interesting comparison. Let's roll on to the test results and see where the Archetype fits into Continental's lineup.

The 30 mm Archetype has a maximum air pressure of 73 psi / 5.0 bars (just like the other Conti 30+ mm tires), also indicating that pro teams have now fully embraced lower air pressures. We conducted tests at higher air pressures to ensure data consistency across our site, providing future reference for tire development.

We can confirm the Archetype is now Continental's fastest road bike tire in our tests, as it comes in a hair faster than the Grand Prix 5000 TT TR. The results are so close, though, that the actual weight of the tested samples, manufacturing tolerances, and the margin of error of the tests can change the order between those tires.

As expected, the Archetype offers stronger sidewalls over the Grand Prix 5000 TT TR, but the tread is thinner and more prone to punctures because of the absence of the Vectran breaker. We do think the Archetype is the overall better tubeless-ready tire as tread punctures will be sealed (or repaired) more easily than sidewall punctures or cuts.

Another advantage of the Archetype is its slightly improved (wet) grip, thanks to the more flexible tread that can deform over objects more easily. The tread is also wider than any other Continental tire, making it a better choice for use on wide rims.

The advantage of the Grand Prix 5000 TT TR lies in its slightly lower weight, but when correcting the actual casing size and tread width, that would be 10 to 15 grams at most.

We can see why this is the Tour de France winning tire as it ticks all the boxes that pro teams require. It's probably not the right tire for everyone, but thanks to our data, you'll be able to make an informed decision on picking the right tire for the job.