Improving endurance of bead of radial tire for heavy vehicle. Tire has two beads (2) contacting rim (3) connected by carcass reinforcement (4) having carcass layer (5), with main part (6) wrapped, in each bead (2), axially from inside towards outside of the tire, around bead wire (7) having diameter (L), to form turnup (8) having free end (E). Each bead (2) has filling element (9) with filling compound (10) and extending radially towards outside from bead wire (7) and axially between turnup (8) and main part (6). The distance (I) between turnup (8) and main part (6) decreases continuously from bead wire (7) as far as a first minimum distance (a) reached at a first point (A) of turnup (8), then increases continuously from the first point (A) of turnup (8) as far as a first maximum distance (b) reached at a second point (B) of turnup (8).