The Vittoria Corsa G+ is one of our favourite tyres – fast, grippy, supple and, you know, tan sidewalls – so the Italian firm’s latest rubber, the Corsa Control, immediately caught our eye at the Cycle Show. It’s ok to get excited about new tyres, isn’t it?

The Corsa Control replaces the Pave in the Vittoria range, a tyre commonly seen in tubular form on the bikes of pros at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix for years. The new Corsa Control shares the same super-supple 320 TPI casing as the Corsa, but the tread is 0.4mm thicker, with the aim of improving durability.

The Corsa Control also gains a herringbone shoulder pattern, which extends further round the tyre than the original Corsa’s tread. Vittoria say that should help with all-weather grip and add a little extra protection against sidewall cuts. The key with the Corsa Control, according to Vittoria, is in offering a high-TPI casing, which helps improve the ride quality, without producing a tyre that cuts to shreds at the first sign of winter.

The tyre utilises four rubber compounds, said to offer a balance of speed, grip, durability and puncture protection, according to Vittoria. Since the start of 2016 Vittoria has also used graphene in its top-end tyres and that’s also the case here. Graphene, if you’re not familiar, is essentially an extremely thin, extremely strong form of pure carbon fibre, which apparently, in this case, improves the performance of the tyre across the board.

Vittoria will offer the Corsa Control in 25mm and 28mm widths, with claimed weights of 265g and 280g respectively. There will also be open tubular (i.e. clincher) and tubular options, available with tan sidewalls as pictured or in black. A tubeless tyre is in development.

The Corsa Control is pitched as a high-end winter/year-round tyre and it’s certainly a premium option, with a price tag of £54.99. However, given our experience with the original Corsa, and the onset of autumn/winter, we’re looking forward to getting our hands on a set of these to find out how the new tyre really stacks up. If it can add genuine winter protection to the ride quality, then we could be on to a winner.

Website: Vittoria

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