Campagnolo may not be in the WorldTour this year, but the component brand has Olympic gold in the velodrome in its sights. The Italian national team is to use its Ghibli 0.9 front and rear disc wheels for the Olympic pursuit events in Paris. The Federazione Ciclistica Italiana (Italian Cycling Federation) and Campagnolo have a collaborative agreement that began in July 2023, which sees the Vicenza-based company as the official supplier of the wheels of the team pursuit quartets.
Debuted at the Track Cycling World Championships in Glasgow in 2023 – the last chance for new equipment to be inspected and registered with the UCI in time for the 2024 Paris Olympics – the Ghibli 0.9 wheels have what the Italian brand calls a “reduced camber angle, designed to enhance smoothness and aerodynamics.” Campagnolo says this results in a smaller frontal section for “unprecedented aerodynamic efficiency”. The wheels have a 21mm internal rim width and a 27.4mm external rim width and are lenticular in profile, creating a teardrop shape that keeps airflow attached.
The Ghibli 0.9 wheel is equipped with Campagnolo’s 2-Way Fit technology, compatible with both tubeless tyres and traditional clinchers. This is something else unprecedented until relatively recently. Historically only tubular tyres have been used on the velodrome. According to Campagnolo, the 23-28mm tubeless tyres, for which the Ghiblis is are designed, is “something already requested and adopted by the most important riders on the Italian national team ... delivering better performance, smoothness, and safety than a tubular configuration. The tubeless option also brings with it extremely easy installation and maintenance, thanks to its innovative valve design.”
Tubeless tyres may also have the advantage over tubulars when it comes to rolling resistance. Filippo Ganna used Continental GP5000 TT tyres for his 2022 Hour Record in a 25mm width and Dan Bigham was the first to ride clincher tyres when he broke the Hour Record earlier in 2022, also riding the GP5000 TT in a 25mm width.
In the hubs, the Ghibli 0.9 wheels use Campagnolo’s CULT ceramic bearings. The brand says these “nearly eliminate rolling resistance and that its in-house development testing underlined the efficiency of this technology: “Taken to a speed of 78kph, a Campagnolo wheel with CULT ceramic bearings stopped spinning after two hours and 45 minutes.”
The Ghibli 0.9s are made in Italy from aerospace-grade high-modulus carbon-fibre and, in Campagolo’s words, have a “level of craftsmanship and precision that supports Italian athletes in their pursuit of Olympic gold.”
The Italians are the defending champions in the men’s team pursuit: they beat the Danish quartet at the Izu velodrome in Shizuoka in 2021 and broke their own world record in the process. The Italian women beat Team GB – the silver medallists at Tokyo – at the European track championships early this year and are in a strong position in the hunt for Olympic gold in 2024.
The velodrome at Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines, south-west of Paris close to Versailles, will host the Olympic track events. Filippo Ganna, Jonathan Milan, Elisa Balsamo and Chiara Consonni are among the Italian track riders hoping to replicate the successes of Tokyo three years ago.
Any track equipment used at the Olympics must have been commercially available since January 1 of the year of the Games, so in line with the rules the Campagnolo Ghibli 0.9 can be purchased via Campagnolo’s usual networks and is priced at £3,200 for the rear (120mm spacing) and £3,050 for the front (100mm spacing). All the details on Campagnolo's website and The Journal.
