Total Control
Mauro Schmid

Young Swiss rider Mauro Schmid currently stands at the world’s 12th best rider in the yearly UCI World Points rankings and, fresh off his best ever Tour de France with one unforgettable stage victory and two second places we sat down with him to understand if his switch to Q36.5’s Unique Pro shoes for this season had anything to do with all this success…

As well as getting to know him a little bit before his move to our factory team, Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling for the 2027 season!

Last year I was having some problems with my shoes and started looking around for solutions. My requirements were: lowest stack height possible (I’m super focused on this issue) and the ability to swap between pairs without problems, all in a high performance package, obviously.

I discovered the Q36.5 Unique Pro shoes in their flagship store in Zurich, they satisfied my requirements, and Luigi, the founder, encouraged me to try them.
I felt immediately that they were super super comfortable and that performance was top.

Because of the sock construction and light and breathable upper material the Q36.5 shoes were comfortable immediately and didn’t have the problem you can with shoes made with thicker and heavier upper material, which need to be worn about ten times to be broken in.

In the past in hot conditions I’ve always had problems with my feet because of swelling but at the Tour this year my feet were really good for the whole race thanks to the breathable upper construction of Q36.5s shoes. This combined with the performance of its carbon sole made them perfect because to be honest at the Tour acceleration ability is the first priority, comfort the second.

To be honest I was so confident of the immediate comfort of the Tour that on the second rest day I changed my shoes for a brand new pair I had never worn before. I had no problems!

For the Tour Luigi offered me the Unique with laces but in my opinion all the benefits of the openness of the current upper (ventilation, immediate comfort) outweigh the advantages of a laced shoe (super compact fit) for everyday racing. That said, I will test the laces for time trials and prologues in the coming months and next year I look forward to combining the shoes with Q36.5’s special socks as well as the rest of their clothing!

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Total Control Mauro Schmid

Total Control
Mauro Schmid