Tour de France: Digestion for professionals – The nutritional revolution at the Tour

Kristof de Kegel carefully fills the bottles of the professionals from the Belgian racing team Alpecin-Deceuninck before each Tour de France stage. It looks like a science the way he measures the liquids. And it’s also science, nutritional science.

»A few years ago we thought that a person could consume around 60 grams of carbohydrates per hour. Then the stomach says: stop now! It has now been found that with the right mixture of carbohydrates you can use up to 120 grams per hour,” says sports scientist and performance manager “nd”. This can easily be described as a nutritional revolution. Because carbohydrates mean energy – energy that is generated in the muscle cells and which ensures propulsion on the bike through contraction and decontraction. The double consumption of fuel does not ensure double speed. But the riders’ new record times at the Tour de France are also aided by the nutrition factor.

Glass digestive system

A strict control regime for energy supply has therefore been implemented among the tour teams. »There is a well-balanced nutrition plan for each day, depending on the characteristics of each stage. We see exactly how many kilojoules the drivers have converted. We can see this from the wattage values ​​from the bike computers. And from this we determine what we need to feed them again. 15 minutes after the end of the race, our chef already knows what each driver needs. And then he prepares dinner,” says de Kegel.

This plan changes as the season progresses. »We vary each rider’s carbohydrate intake. In the early preparation phase in November and December we reduce carbohydrates. The drivers there do a lot of work. But the intensities are comparatively low. “You burn more fat than carbohydrates,” says Laura Martinelli, nutritionist for the Australian team Jayco AlUla, describing the process. This is the phase of the season in which the now famous zone two training takes place.

Fat metabolism vs. carbohydrate burning

The aim is to switch the organism to fat metabolism. »That makes sense because the carbohydrate stores in the organism are limited. In contrast, fat oxidation is rather unlimited. And the longer you can cycle in fat metabolism, the later it switches to carbohydrate metabolism,” explains Dan Lorang, training scientist and performance director at Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe “nd”.

Tadej Pogačar’s former coach Iñigo San Millán divided the Slovenian’s training into five intensity zones. Zone two was on the lower spectrum, but was characterized by maximum fat burning. If you get used to it, your body won’t touch the carbohydrate reserves that are harder to store. The problem is: the higher the intensity on the bike, the more energy has to come from the carbohydrates. Professional cyclists can still ride a large portion of flat stages in fat-burning mode. “But if you want to become faster, you also need the faster energy reserves, i.e. the carbohydrates,” explains sports scientist de Kegel. Sprinters, for example, need carbohydrates for maximum acceleration. And even at peak performance in the mountains, carbohydrates must primarily be consumed.

The reason why the racers don’t gain weight is because they convert the many carbohydrates into high wattage on the pedals. Most people are meticulous about not gaining an ounce too much. Because they have to carry the weight up the mountain.

Abrahamsen does it differently

But there are exceptions. Ironically, the best mountain rider of the first half of the current tour, Jonas Abrahamsen, gained weight. »I used to be a climber and made a point of being very thin and light. But I still didn’t get any better. It was getting lighter and lighter, but I didn’t have as much strength anymore,” said the Norwegian from the Uno-X Mobility “nd” team. Abrahamsen was also worried because in his early 20s, all the weight loss orgies left him with the body of a prepubescent teenager. “The entire hormonal development was slowed down.”

That’s why he decided to take an unusual path. »I gained weight, from 60 to 80 kilograms. I found that it was just right for my body. “I built up muscles and can now apply a lot more power to the pedals,” is how he describes the process. »Of course I’m not one of the best in the high mountains. But I can drive over the small hills with more power. And my endurance has also increased. “I feel comfortable in my body now,” says the now 28-year-old.

He followed this path together with the trainers and nutritionists on his team. Of course, it is important for the food supply specialists not to follow a formula, but rather to find the right way for each driver.

During the race, Abrahamsen eats no differently than his professional colleagues. Around three bars or gels must be consumed per hour so that the energy storage never runs out. “About eight to twelve minutes after taking it, you can already see the effect in the glucose level,” says sports scientist de Kegel. However, this also means that the professionals have to stock up on food. If you forget that, the infamous starvation threatens. By the way, normal people should not consume more than 150 grams of carbohydrates per day – hardly more than the hourly ration of a professional cyclist. But the average person physically performs much, much less than these modern kings of the country roads – who in a certain sense are nothing other than titanic endurance.