Vittoria Corsa N.EXT: the GP 5000 killer?

The Italian brand’s new road tyre could take the do-it-all crown away from Continental

- Simon Smythe

Vittoria has launched a new tyre called the Corsa N.EXT that is designed to go head to head – or tread to tread – with Continental’s Grand Prix 5000 and Schwalbe’s Pro One TLE.

The Italian tyre manufacturer sees itself as missing out in this category up to now. In the language of Shimano groupsets, Vittoria regards its flagship cotton-casing Corsa range – the Corsa, Corsa Speed and Corsa Control – as ‘Dura-Ace’ while the top tyres from the two German brands, which have nylon casings, are ‘Ultegra’.

The Corsa N.EXT is Vittoria’s first road tyre to be certified hookless compatible and Vittoria has priced the Corsa strategically lower than both the Conti and Schwalbe offerings, and £10 lower than the existing Corsa, against which it has benchmarked its new tyre.

Vittoria says it has created “racing-inspired performance with ultimate durability” in a tyre that – in the words of the press release – “completes Vittoria’s top-of-the-range offer by filling the gap between the Pro Competition and Advanced Training tyre categories”.

The Italian brand’s engineers focused on “the requirements of enthusiast cyclists who clock up the miles on long and demanding weekly rides, gran fondos or other amateur races. These riders want speed, but don’t want to compromise on durability and puncture resistance.”