Pirelli has introduced its newest line of road tires, the P Zero Race 4S, positioned in Pirelli's "Race" performance series, but focused on maintaining performance in all conditions, not just on race day. The product is designed to be used in all conditions.

The P Zero Race 4S replaces the existing P Zero Velo 4S, Pirelli's best-selling road bike tire in terms of total units sold since its return to road bikes, and features improvements over the previous model in weight, durability, speed, puncture resistance, comfort and grip. Pirelli says it is targeted at road cyclists who are interested in the performance benefits of the faster P Zero Race TLR and P Zero Race SR, and who want something closer to a mounted, ready-to-use solution, such as racers who want one tire for the entire season

The company says.

The tire uses the same SmartEvo compound as the other tires in the Race series, and the casing is designed to fit the wider rim standards of modern wheels. As a result, the actual width of the new P Zero Race 4S is larger than the previous P Zero Velo 4S, resulting in a wider, shorter contact area that helps grip and rolling resistance.

What makes the P Zero Race 4S interesting is the path to its existence, and to illustrate this, we will first take a step back to the beginning of Pirelli's modern foray into cycling.

In 2017, the brand returned to cycling with the P Zero Velo series, but much of the construction was outsourced to a rival. Pirelli maintained the use of a rubber compound with a patented chemical structure, but because making that compound into usable tires required tools and machinery that Pirelli did not have, the brand outsourced road tire production to Hutchinson and mountain biking in general to Vittoria.

Today, five years later, the brand has recently switched to production in a newly repurposed factory outside Milan. The new Race 4S is the first "Made in Italy" product, which the brand proudly stamped on the sidewalls of its tires.

Until now, Pirelli's investment in its cycling portfolio has been surprisingly small compared to the size of its overall business. Pirelli is a company with over 30,000 employees, but only 30 of them are involved in cycling. One of them is Davide Valsecchi, sports marketing manager, who told Cyclingnews that the multi-million euro investment in the factory has allowed the brand to ramp up its research and development to create new technologies, or in his words, "full throttle." He explained that the company was able to.

Going forward, Pirelli will continue to use Hutchinson and Lyon Tire (Vittoria) to manufacture certain products in order to expand Pirelli's product range to a wider price range, but with the goal of manufacturing the "best technology" in its own factories.

The P Zero Race 4S is another step in Pirelli's history, a piece of which can be savored for £61.99/$84.90/€69.90/$109.99 AUD per tire.

Unfortunately, tubeless converters will have to wait a little longer, as the P Zero Race 4S is only available in tube-type clinchers at launch. Tubeless will follow, but the exact timing is unknown; when inquired, the answer was "in a month" to "later in the season."