Despite the state of his rear wheel, Capiot thankfully appeared unhurt by the failure and went on to finish the race almost ten minutes behind race winner Mathieu van der Poel<\/a>.<\/p>\n What we know so far Capiot\u2019s rear wheel failure is the latest in a string of high-profile incidents in pro cycling involving tyres separating from rims.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the inciting incident appears to have happened off the race’s video feed, meaning we\u2019re unable to analyse exactly what happened to cause such a complete failure.<\/p>\n According to Cyclingnews<\/a>, a team spokesperson claimed the failure occurred as \u201cthe result of riding for too long on the cobbles with a flat tyre after puncturing\u201d.<\/p>\n Zooming in on the photos, we can indeed see the rim is broken, which would help explain why Capiot\u2019s Cadex Aero Cotton tyre<\/a> and Vittoria Air-Liner tyre inserts<\/a> have dismounted the Cadex Ultra 50<\/a> rim.<\/p>\n This doesn\u2019t provide a full explanation of why the rim and spokes have separated from the hub, however.<\/p>\n Although we can\u2019t be certain, it appears a number of the wheel\u2019s carbon spokes have failed \u2013 as there seems to be some missing from the lower half of the wheel.<\/p>\n Perhaps as a result of these failures, the rest of the intact spokes may have lost tension and were therefore no longer securely held in the hub.<\/p>\n Many of the remaining spokes appear intact, so it doens’t seem to be the case that all of the carbon spokes have simply shorn off the hub.<\/p>\n Are hookless rims to blame? In recent years we\u2019ve seen a number of professional cyclists crashing or standing by the side of the road because of tubeless tyres<\/a> dismounting rims.<\/p>\n Thomas De Gendt suffered a high-speed crash at the 2024 UAE Tour <\/a>as a result of a rock strike that damaged his rim and caused the tyre to dismount.<\/p>\n More recently, Fabio Jackobsen<\/a> suffered a similar fate at this year\u2019s UAE Tour, and we\u2019ve seen a number of examples of wheel failures at Paris-Roubaix \u2013 the toughest cobbled classic on the pro cycling calendar.<\/p>\n Many have pointed the finger of blame at \u2018hookless\u2019 or \u2018Tubeless Straight Side\u2019 rims<\/a>, claiming their lack of tyre bead hooks (that traditional \u2018Tubeless Crochet\u2019 rims have) increases the chances of tyre blow-offs.<\/p>\n The brands involved dispute this, however. Following De Gent\u2019s 2024 crash, both Zipp and Vittoria (De Gendt\u2019s wheel and tyre sponsors) claimed the failure was due to his rim breaking, and was “unrelated”<\/a> to the fact the rims were hookless.<\/p>\n De Gendt was also using 28mm Vittoria tyres on a Zipp 303 NSW rim with a 25mm internal width. This was a combination approved by both Vittoria and Zipp at the time, but wasn’t according to the latest ISO standards, which stated that 29mm was the minimum tyre size for 25mm-wide rims.<\/p>\n In Jakobsen\u2019s case, he was riding so-called \u2018mini-hook\u2019 rims<\/a> from Picnic PostNL\u2019s team sponsor, Ursus.<\/p>\n Despite \u2018mini-hook\u2019 having gained prominence as a marketing term in recent years, it isn\u2019t actually a new rim standard, as defined by the European Tyre and Rim Technical Organisation (ETRTO) or the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).<\/p>\n Instead, these are Tubeless Crochet, or \u2018hooked\u2019 rims that meet or go just beyond the minimum requirements for that standard \u2013 meaning they must have tyre bead hooks at least 0.5mm in depth.<\/p>\n In that case, then, hookless rims were not to blame.<\/p>\n In Capiot\u2019s case, his Cadex Ultra 50 rims were hookless, but as far as we can tell his setup fell well within the approved standards. Giant and Cadex have also previously detailed that their hookless testing goes above and beyond the required standards<\/a>.<\/p>\n Given Omloop is a race featuring many cobbled sectors, it\u2019s easy to imagine him striking a particularly sharp cobble at high speed, and catastrophically damaging his rim and some of the spokes.<\/p>\n It may be possible Capiot’s tyre would have dismounted the rim under such duress even if he’d been on hooked \/ Tubeless Crochet rims.<\/p>\n Connecting the dots<\/p>\n One factor connecting all three tyre dismounts mentioned above is that the riders were using ‘cotton’ tyres.<\/p>\n Jakobsen and De Gendt were both using Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR tyres<\/a>, while Capiot was using Cadex Aero Cotton tyres, as previously noted.<\/p>\n
\n![\"NIVONE,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2264030051_01-scaled.jpg\")
Amaury Capiot appeared unijured despite the failure of his rear wheel on the cobbles. Tim de Waele\/Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"NIVONE,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2264030057-copy_02-edited-scaled.jpg\")
The Cadex rim appers to be badly damaged up top (at around 11 o’clock), and there looks to be a number of missing spokes on the lower half of the rim. Tim de Waele\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
\n![\"Liv](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260302_SvB_EOS-R_IMG_9953-scaled.jpg\")
Liv AlUla Jayco and Jayco-AlUla were using Cadex Ultra 50 wheels and Cadex Cotton Aero tyres at Omloop, generally in a size 30c. Simon von Bromley \/ Our Media<\/p>\n![\"Cadex](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260302_SvB_EOS-R_IMG_9952-scaled.jpg\")
The Cadex Aero Cotton tyres are designed to work with the hookless Cadex Ultra 50 rims. Simon von Bromley \/ Our Media<\/p>\n![\"Cadex](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260302_SvB_EOS-R_IMG_9950-scaled.jpg\")
Giant and Cadex say their hookless safety testing goes above and beyond the minimum standards. Simon von Bromley \/ Our Media<\/p>\n
![\"Cadex](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260302_SvB_EOS-R_IMG_9949-scaled.jpg\")
Could cotton tyres have anything to do with these blow-offs? Simon von Bromley \/ Our Media<\/p>\n