After some bad results in the 2013 Giro, 2014 Tour de France and recently at Paris-Nice this year with crashing in the wet, Team Sky are testing new tires at the Giro.

The team, which has no official tire sponsor, has used Veloflex tubulars throughout most of its short history. But every Sky Pinarello in Italy this month has its carbon fiber Shimano wheels wrapped in Continental rubber. The 25mm Competition tubular is the tire of choice.

The team is not using the ProLtd version of the Competition, which is provided to sponsored teams, suggesting that Sky is buying its tires from Continental.

“We just began testing them,” said a Sky mechanic to VeloNews prior to Saturday’s stage.