Vittoria Corsa Pro Control 700 x 42 off road rolling resistance results 📊

I first saw these around May of last year, about a month before they were unveiled as an OEM only available tire spec on Cervelo's also new then Aspero-5 aero gravel bike. These are now available to anyone that wants them (along with a 38 mm option), so I am excited to share my results over the last few months riding and testing these. These share the same construction as the existing smaller Corsa Pro Controls with a 320 tpi cotton casing and Race Formulation compound.

My samples had an average weight of 449 grams and those oh so nice looking sidewalls are 0.7 mm in thickness. As with the other Control tires, the tread area is beefed up compared to the standard Corsas, coming in at 3.0 mm. Bead to bead width is 110 mm, blowing up to 40 mm wide on a 25 mm internal rim… and 42 mm wide on a 27 mm rim. Super easy inflation and I had no issues at all riding these.

These are REAL fast, coming in as the third fastest tire I’ve tested on smooth pavement in pure rolling resistance (0.0037 CRR) and top of the heap if you factor in aerodynamics. On Cat 1 Gravel, the 42 mm Corsas are locked up in a tie with the 40 mm Hutchinson Caracal Race and 40 mm Schwalbe Pro One Allroad, which are nice company to keep I’d say.

One of the most remarkable things about this particular tire for me is how well it pairs with the Reserve 40/44 GR wheelset I’ve been riding them on. I did all the testing with the 25 mm rims for fairness sake, but the tire profile and actual aerodynamics with the 40/44 set is fantastic.

All outdoor results are my own, obtained by Chung Method / VE testing.

Note:

Everyone wants to know…what pressure am I using? Obviously, larger tires will require lower pressure than smaller ones to get the best speed and handling in general…especially off road. The Wolf Tooth Advanced calculator is very good in my usage for gravel and mtb tires. The Rough Gravel setting seems to get quite close to best pressure for not only rolling efficiency (yes, even on gravel that’s not super rough) but also comfort and handling. I will start with that based on the measured tire size, go ride some, recheck pressure once the tire warms up, then reasess the setting based on how the tire is riding. If it feels obviously harsh, go down 1 psi…. If it feels squirmy or I am smacking the rim on hard hits, I will go up 1 psi, maybe 2 in that situation. Often I end up sticking quite close to what the calculator says initially but it isn't written in stone. Rolling efficiency is actually almost identical (reference some testing I posted spring 2025 for this graphically) across a bigger span of tire pressures off road than most realize, which means it is quite easy to get the pressure where the tire will be fastest…the rest is fine tuning to rider preference. Even though I’m testing, I am also enjoying being out there so take the extra steps to see how the tire performs best. Ultimately there is no magic “best” pressure… it is up to rider preference with no real speed penalty unless you really mess it up one way or another, and that is a big reason I am explaining this in such detail. It’s not to justify my results, it’s to encourage folks to keep an open mind about how they set their tires and get the best ride possible. All the Smooth Pavement testing I do is with the tires set to the PSI I would use for riding on average pavement, so in practice about 5-7 psi higher than I would use for off road riding.