Tires with automatic inflation could take over the peloton in 2025

First preseason concentration for Visma-Lease a Bike on the roads of Flanders that has served as a first contact and to start testing the equipment they will use throughout the next season. Among them, the automatic inflation system Gravaa KAPS with which Marianne Vos managed to conquer the Gravel World Championship and which could be a good weapon for the Classics.

Visma-Lease a Bike continues to collaborate in the development of the automatic inflation system Gravaa KAPS

In the year 2023, in preparation for the Paris-Roubaix, the then Jumbo-Visma incorporated an automatic pressure adjustment system to their bikes, the KAPS from the Gravaa brand, a hub that uses the energy of rotation to activate an air compression system and that, through a tube connected to the valve and a wireless electronic system allows to vary the tire pressure on the go.

However, the topic was not mentioned again until a couple of months ago when the legendary Marianne Vos added the Gravel World Championship to her illustrious record by using wheels with Gravaa KAPS hubs to play with pressures in a discipline where finding the balance between grip, absorption, and rolling resistance make tire inflation an essential aspect.

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In fact, Vos stated that being able to increase the pressure in the final part of the race surely gave her the extra needed to beat in the sprint none other than a woman as fast as Lotte Kopecky.

Now, with Visma-Lease a Bike taking the first pedal strokes of the season, the main classics riders of the team such as Wout van Aert, Dylan van Baarle, or Matteo Jorgenson have been seen testing this system again on their Cervélo S5 bikes.

According to the owner of Gravaa, the KAPS has evolved significantly since they first used it in the 2023 Paris-Roubaix, pointing out the improvement in the electronics through which inflation and deflation are controlled, which in such an exposed place as the hub was affected by dirt. However, now it is completely encapsulated. He even expresses his confidence that the KAPS will become a regular part of the Dutch team's bikes in the classics, not only in the Paris-Roubaix.