So how are the riders fuelling, hydrating and cooling themselves through this epic three-week test?<\/p>
To find out, we asked Owen Blandy, the EF Education-EasyPost team chef, Nigel Mitchell, former head of nutrition at Team Sky and British Cycling, Andy Blow, CEO of Precision Fuel and Hydration, and Jacob Tipper who coaches Tour de France cyclist Ben Healy.<\/p>
Mountains of white carbs\u00a0<\/h2>Kilos of white rice are the mainstay of a Tour cyclist’s diet. – Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>A Tour de France rider\u2019s diet during the race is extremely bland and carb-dense.<\/p>
\u201cDuring Geraint Thomas\u2019 Tour win [in 2018] he pretty much just ate eggs, chicken breast and rice,\u201d says Owen Blandy, performance chef at EF Education-EasyPost.<\/p>
During a demanding day, a rider might consume 6,000 calories. If three-quarters of this comes from carbohydrates, that amounts to 1,125g of carbs. For context, a kilo of uncooked white rice contains 700-800g of carbohydrates.<\/p>
A rider\u2019s ability to consume such vast amounts of carbohydrates<\/a>, which are essential to restock glycogen stores for the next day\u2019s racing, makes or breaks their result.<\/p>\u201cIn the Tour de France, usually the best rider, who\u2019s best prepared will win,\u201d says Blandy.<\/p>
\u201cBut often it is a recovery game: who can stomach eating so many carbs and so many calories, and who can deal with the knocks.\u201d<\/p>
Minimal fat and simple protein<\/h3>
Chefs such as Blandy try to keep fat to a minimum to leave room in riders\u2019 stomachs and calorie budget for the carbs.<\/p>
\u201cFat adds calories without providing carbohydrates to contribute to glycogen stores,\u201d he says.<\/p>
As a result, he adds: \u201cI\u2019m not creating dishes which have added fats in creams or sauces.\u201d<\/p>
Neither does Blandy allow condiments such as mayonnaise at the EF Education-EasyPost table.<\/p>
\u201cMy goal is to create enough flavour through seasoning that the riders don\u2019t need the sauces,\u201d he says.<\/p>
In addition, Blandy serves lean protein sources such as chicken breast, white fish and egg whites.\u00a0<\/p>
Carnivore for the Tour<\/h3>![\"Fried](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2024\/07\/GettyImages-1230001174.jpg\")
Some cyclists, who are usually vegan, will eat fish to hit their protein targets during the Tour. – Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>EF Education-EasyPost riders who are usually vegan or vegetarian will eat chicken and fish during a Grand Tour, according to Blandy.<\/p>
\u201cYou can live perfectly fine as a vegan athlete, but when you’re required to eat so much protein, it\u2019s very difficult to do so with natural foods,\u201d he says.<\/p>
\u201cBeans, nuts and seeds have a lot of protein, but you\u2019ll consume too much fat and fibre along with them.\u201d<\/p>
The alternative is to take plant-based protein powders, but Blandy says: \u201cYou have to weigh everything and be really precise with what you’re eating, which is possibly a waste of [mental] energy.\u201d<\/p>
The fight against \u2018flavour fatigue\u2019<\/h3>![\"Tour](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2024\/07\/Faster-Food-Quinoa.jpg\")
Blandy might serve more fibre and vegetables before a rest or transition day. – Hannah Grant<\/figcaption><\/figure>But how does Blandy meet the riders\u2019 nutritional needs while maintaining their appetites?<\/p>
\u201cMy goal as a chef is to provide the riders with exciting meal choices and things they don’t see every day because it’s a lot of rice and pasta,\u201d he says.<\/p>
\u201cSo if there’s a way I can create interesting textures and dishes with the salads, the soups and the dessert, that’s when I\u2019m creative.\u201d<\/p>
He\u2019ll blend fruit and vegetables into juices and soups to provide easy-to-digest nutrients, while baked apples go down well for dessert.<\/p>
In the team hotel, the soigneurs <\/a>will set up a \u2018food room\u2019, where riders can help themselves to snacks. Yoghurt, cereals and small amounts of dark chocolate number among the \u2018treats\u2019 nutritionists sanction.<\/p>You might think riders can relax their diet slightly on the Tour\u2019s rest days. But because they\u2019re racing the next day, Blandy serves a more varied menu the day before.<\/p>![\"selective](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2024\/07\/GettyImages-1224327273.jpg\")
Fattier foods such as pizza, which take longer to digest, are a rare treat at the Tour. – Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\u201cAt dinner, we can make pizza or do red meat and maybe a bit of brown rice or lots more veggies and fruits to give them more micronutrients,\u201d he says.<\/p>
Riders usually avoid brown rice and red meat because they take longer to digest than white meat and white rice.<\/p>
Mitchell says riders will also take supplements, such as Omega 3, to help deal with the \u201csystemic stress\u201d of the race, and iron.<\/p>
\u201cIt\u2019s hard for the riders to maintain iron balance through a three-week race,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>
Being responsible for muscle function and carrying oxygen, iron is a crucial mineral for endurance athletes. Its levels in the body can drop during periods of prolonged exercise.\u00a0<\/p>
Gels from the start\u00a0<\/h2>![\"Tour](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2024\/07\/PFHTourdeFrance_Stage-11-477-scaled-1.jpg\")
With a gel between his teeth, Tiesj Benoot shows why pros increasingly favour semi-solid fuel from the gun. – Precision Fuel and Hydration<\/figcaption><\/figure>As the Tour de France gets faster<\/a>, riders are eating more sports nutrition, such as energy gels<\/a>, than real food.<\/p>Mitchell says: \u201cTeams still use rice cakes and paninis, but the faster racing at the start of races means riders switch to gels and drinks earlier on: sometimes from the start if they\u2019re in the breakaway.\u201d<\/p>
EF Education-EasyPost\u2019s Blandy agrees: \u201cIt\u2019s hard to peel open a rice cake when you\u2019re riding at 50kmph.\u201d<\/p>
Mitchell, who is now a nutrition expert for American Pistachio Growers, says recent improvements in cycling nutrition, such as energy drinks<\/a>, has helped more teams hit the high-carb intake today\u2019s full-gas racing requires.<\/p>\u201cHigh-carb sports nutrition is more widely available than a few years ago when Maurten and SiS were the only brands to offer drinks containing more than 90g of carbohydrates,\u201d he says.<\/p>
\u201cSo now most teams will be consuming 80-120g of carbohydrates an hour, or even more.\u201d<\/p>
Personalised hydration and fuelling plans\u00a0\u00a0<\/h2>![\"Hydration](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2024\/07\/PFH_Tour-de-France_Stage-11_July24_precisionfandh-50-scaled-1.jpg\")
It’s a good job the pros ride long stems: there’s a lot of detail on Arnaud De Lie’s. – Precision Fuel and Hydration<\/figcaption><\/figure>A recent change is that Tour de France cyclists’ race-day hydration and fueling plans have become more bespoke.\u00a0<\/p>
Blow, whose company Precision Fuel and Hydration supplies Lotto Dstny, says: \u201cLotto Dstny and other teams are using stem stickers to highlight the individual hydration and nutrition strategies each rider is using on each stage.<\/p>
\u201cBecause hitting their nutrition numbers becomes increasingly important as the racing is more and more intense, this seems to be a trend.\u201d<\/p>
During stage 11, which packed in steep climbs in the Massif Central, Lotto Dstny\u2019s Victor Campenaerts planned to consume 124g of carbohydrates and 968ml of fluid per hour (from one bottle of a carb and electrolyte mix per hour and one of plain water).<\/p>
But when the GC teams upped the pace to catch the breakaway, he increased his intake.<\/p>
Speaking after the stage to Precision Fuel and Hydration, Campenaerts said: \u201cI smashed 150g of carbs an hour even in the grupetto.<\/p>
\u201cI eat to the max my gut can handle because it\u2019s a stage race and the more you go into a [calorie] deficit, the harder it is to recover.<\/p>
\u201cIf I could eat 200 [grams of carbohydrates per hour] I would.\u201d<\/p>
In the first two hours, Campenaerts said he ate two gels and drank two bottles an hour (from one bottle of carb\/electrolyte mix per hour and one of plain water).<\/p>![\"Tour](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2024\/07\/PFH_Tour-de-France_Stage-11_July24_precisionfandh-246-scaled-1.jpg\")
Lotto Dstny riders ate and drank more than planned due to the heat and pace of the day. – Precision Fuel and Hydration<\/figcaption><\/figure>For the last three and a half hours, he switched to three bottles an hour because it was getting hotter, with an extra gel, making three gels an hour.<\/p>
Campenaerts is only able to do this because he has trained and tested his gut\u2019s ability to digest carbs while his body is working hard.<\/p>
Mitchell says teams are increasingly calculating riders\u2019 individual maximum uptake of carbs in a lab.<\/p>
\u201cThe maltodextrin used in energy drinks contains a natural carbon isotope, which isn\u2019t common in food,\u201d he says.<\/p>
\u201cBy taking breath samples, you can measure how much maltodextrin is there, which gives you an idea of how much exogenous carbohydrate is being oxidised.\u201d<\/p>
A good oxidation rate is \u201c85-90 per cent\u201d according to Mitchell.<\/p>
Armed with this information, Mitchell says: \u201cYou can really dial in [an individual\u2019s fueling].<\/p>
\u00a0\u201cI know that some of the teams are doing these individual studies to optimise fueling strategies.<\/p>
\u201cIt\u2019s not new technology, but it\u2019s becoming more widely used.\u201d<\/p>
Sensors galore (but maybe not in racing)<\/h2>![\"Man](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2024\/07\/FLOWBIO_MAJORCA_SMALL-242.jpg\")
Hydration and core body temperature sensors may be more useful in training than racing. – Flowbio<\/figcaption><\/figure>Mitchell says it\u2019s easier to work out someone\u2019s sweat rate so they know how much to drink<\/a>.<\/p>But more teams are using sweat and hydration sensors, such as the Flowbio S1 Sensor<\/a>, to estimate sodium losses.<\/p>The insight sweat sensors provide into a rider\u2019s level of heat acclimatisation is especially useful, according to Mitchell.<\/p>
\u201cAs you become better heat acclimatised, you sweat more but you lose a lower concentration of sodium,\u201d he says.<\/p>
\u201cSo you can use a sweat sensor to measure this.\u201d<\/p>
Unlike continuous glucose monitors<\/a>, sweat and body temperature sensors are allowed in UCI-sanctioned races. Cycling\u2019s governing body classifies them as \u201cphysiological sensors\u201d like power meters<\/a> and heart-rate monitors<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>However, Mitchell says: \u201cI’ve not seen people using them in racing.\u201d<\/p>
He also warns that the data might not be that useful.<\/p>
\u201cHydration can be very important, but because you’ve got that information doesn’t mean you’ll get better hydration,\u201d he says.<\/p>
\u201cThere’s only so much fluid that you can deliver to the athletes anyway.\u201d<\/p>
Staying cool\u00a0<\/h3>![\"COURCHEVEL,](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2024\/07\/GettyImages-1555856980.jpg\")
On hot stages, ice is an integral part of the feed bags, so riders can try to stay cool. – im de Waele\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>Mitchell does believe teams are monitoring riders’ body temperatures in races in a bid to stop them from overheating, though.<\/p>
A rise in core temperature downregulates enzymes that are responsible for metabolic activity, such as digestion and energy production.<\/p>
\u201cThis is why you feel so bad when you have a fever. As you get too hot, your body will try to stop you from producing the effort that\u2019s causing the temperature,\u201d he says.<\/p>
\u201cEventually, you\u2019ll blow up massively when you overheat.\u201d<\/p>
Usually, cyclists can withstand higher temperatures than other sportspeople due to the cooling effect of the wind.<\/p>
But Mitchell says: \u201cAs you climb a mountain, you ride slower and receive less breeze.<\/p>
\u201cThere\u2019s also the heat radiating off the mountain and road.\u201d<\/p>
Devices such as the Core Body Temperature Sensor can provide a \u201cconfirmation to the perception of overheating\u201d, according to Mitchell.<\/p>
A Tour de France rider\u2019s diet during the race is extremely bland and carb-dense.<\/p>
\u201cDuring Geraint Thomas\u2019 Tour win [in 2018] he pretty much just ate eggs, chicken breast and rice,\u201d says Owen Blandy, performance chef at EF Education-EasyPost.<\/p>
During a demanding day, a rider might consume 6,000 calories. If three-quarters of this comes from carbohydrates, that amounts to 1,125g of carbs. For context, a kilo of uncooked white rice contains 700-800g of carbohydrates.<\/p>
A rider\u2019s ability to consume such vast amounts of carbohydrates<\/a>, which are essential to restock glycogen stores for the next day\u2019s racing, makes or breaks their result.<\/p> \u201cIn the Tour de France, usually the best rider, who\u2019s best prepared will win,\u201d says Blandy.<\/p> \u201cBut often it is a recovery game: who can stomach eating so many carbs and so many calories, and who can deal with the knocks.\u201d<\/p> Chefs such as Blandy try to keep fat to a minimum to leave room in riders\u2019 stomachs and calorie budget for the carbs.<\/p> \u201cFat adds calories without providing carbohydrates to contribute to glycogen stores,\u201d he says.<\/p> As a result, he adds: \u201cI\u2019m not creating dishes which have added fats in creams or sauces.\u201d<\/p> Neither does Blandy allow condiments such as mayonnaise at the EF Education-EasyPost table.<\/p> \u201cMy goal is to create enough flavour through seasoning that the riders don\u2019t need the sauces,\u201d he says.<\/p> In addition, Blandy serves lean protein sources such as chicken breast, white fish and egg whites.\u00a0<\/p> EF Education-EasyPost riders who are usually vegan or vegetarian will eat chicken and fish during a Grand Tour, according to Blandy.<\/p> \u201cYou can live perfectly fine as a vegan athlete, but when you’re required to eat so much protein, it\u2019s very difficult to do so with natural foods,\u201d he says.<\/p> \u201cBeans, nuts and seeds have a lot of protein, but you\u2019ll consume too much fat and fibre along with them.\u201d<\/p> The alternative is to take plant-based protein powders, but Blandy says: \u201cYou have to weigh everything and be really precise with what you’re eating, which is possibly a waste of [mental] energy.\u201d<\/p> But how does Blandy meet the riders\u2019 nutritional needs while maintaining their appetites?<\/p> \u201cMy goal as a chef is to provide the riders with exciting meal choices and things they don’t see every day because it’s a lot of rice and pasta,\u201d he says.<\/p> \u201cSo if there’s a way I can create interesting textures and dishes with the salads, the soups and the dessert, that’s when I\u2019m creative.\u201d<\/p> He\u2019ll blend fruit and vegetables into juices and soups to provide easy-to-digest nutrients, while baked apples go down well for dessert.<\/p> In the team hotel, the soigneurs <\/a>will set up a \u2018food room\u2019, where riders can help themselves to snacks. Yoghurt, cereals and small amounts of dark chocolate number among the \u2018treats\u2019 nutritionists sanction.<\/p> You might think riders can relax their diet slightly on the Tour\u2019s rest days. But because they\u2019re racing the next day, Blandy serves a more varied menu the day before.<\/p> \u201cAt dinner, we can make pizza or do red meat and maybe a bit of brown rice or lots more veggies and fruits to give them more micronutrients,\u201d he says.<\/p> Riders usually avoid brown rice and red meat because they take longer to digest than white meat and white rice.<\/p> Mitchell says riders will also take supplements, such as Omega 3, to help deal with the \u201csystemic stress\u201d of the race, and iron.<\/p> \u201cIt\u2019s hard for the riders to maintain iron balance through a three-week race,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p> Being responsible for muscle function and carrying oxygen, iron is a crucial mineral for endurance athletes. Its levels in the body can drop during periods of prolonged exercise.\u00a0<\/p> As the Tour de France gets faster<\/a>, riders are eating more sports nutrition, such as energy gels<\/a>, than real food.<\/p> Mitchell says: \u201cTeams still use rice cakes and paninis, but the faster racing at the start of races means riders switch to gels and drinks earlier on: sometimes from the start if they\u2019re in the breakaway.\u201d<\/p> EF Education-EasyPost\u2019s Blandy agrees: \u201cIt\u2019s hard to peel open a rice cake when you\u2019re riding at 50kmph.\u201d<\/p> Mitchell, who is now a nutrition expert for American Pistachio Growers, says recent improvements in cycling nutrition, such as energy drinks<\/a>, has helped more teams hit the high-carb intake today\u2019s full-gas racing requires.<\/p> \u201cHigh-carb sports nutrition is more widely available than a few years ago when Maurten and SiS were the only brands to offer drinks containing more than 90g of carbohydrates,\u201d he says.<\/p> \u201cSo now most teams will be consuming 80-120g of carbohydrates an hour, or even more.\u201d<\/p> A recent change is that Tour de France cyclists’ race-day hydration and fueling plans have become more bespoke.\u00a0<\/p> Blow, whose company Precision Fuel and Hydration supplies Lotto Dstny, says: \u201cLotto Dstny and other teams are using stem stickers to highlight the individual hydration and nutrition strategies each rider is using on each stage.<\/p> \u201cBecause hitting their nutrition numbers becomes increasingly important as the racing is more and more intense, this seems to be a trend.\u201d<\/p> During stage 11, which packed in steep climbs in the Massif Central, Lotto Dstny\u2019s Victor Campenaerts planned to consume 124g of carbohydrates and 968ml of fluid per hour (from one bottle of a carb and electrolyte mix per hour and one of plain water).<\/p> But when the GC teams upped the pace to catch the breakaway, he increased his intake.<\/p> Speaking after the stage to Precision Fuel and Hydration, Campenaerts said: \u201cI smashed 150g of carbs an hour even in the grupetto.<\/p> \u201cI eat to the max my gut can handle because it\u2019s a stage race and the more you go into a [calorie] deficit, the harder it is to recover.<\/p> \u201cIf I could eat 200 [grams of carbohydrates per hour] I would.\u201d<\/p> In the first two hours, Campenaerts said he ate two gels and drank two bottles an hour (from one bottle of carb\/electrolyte mix per hour and one of plain water).<\/p> For the last three and a half hours, he switched to three bottles an hour because it was getting hotter, with an extra gel, making three gels an hour.<\/p> Campenaerts is only able to do this because he has trained and tested his gut\u2019s ability to digest carbs while his body is working hard.<\/p> Mitchell says teams are increasingly calculating riders\u2019 individual maximum uptake of carbs in a lab.<\/p> \u201cThe maltodextrin used in energy drinks contains a natural carbon isotope, which isn\u2019t common in food,\u201d he says.<\/p> \u201cBy taking breath samples, you can measure how much maltodextrin is there, which gives you an idea of how much exogenous carbohydrate is being oxidised.\u201d<\/p> A good oxidation rate is \u201c85-90 per cent\u201d according to Mitchell.<\/p> Armed with this information, Mitchell says: \u201cYou can really dial in [an individual\u2019s fueling].<\/p> \u00a0\u201cI know that some of the teams are doing these individual studies to optimise fueling strategies.<\/p> \u201cIt\u2019s not new technology, but it\u2019s becoming more widely used.\u201d<\/p> Mitchell says it\u2019s easier to work out someone\u2019s sweat rate so they know how much to drink<\/a>.<\/p> But more teams are using sweat and hydration sensors, such as the Flowbio S1 Sensor<\/a>, to estimate sodium losses.<\/p> The insight sweat sensors provide into a rider\u2019s level of heat acclimatisation is especially useful, according to Mitchell.<\/p> \u201cAs you become better heat acclimatised, you sweat more but you lose a lower concentration of sodium,\u201d he says.<\/p> \u201cSo you can use a sweat sensor to measure this.\u201d<\/p> Unlike continuous glucose monitors<\/a>, sweat and body temperature sensors are allowed in UCI-sanctioned races. Cycling\u2019s governing body classifies them as \u201cphysiological sensors\u201d like power meters<\/a> and heart-rate monitors<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p> However, Mitchell says: \u201cI’ve not seen people using them in racing.\u201d<\/p> He also warns that the data might not be that useful.<\/p> \u201cHydration can be very important, but because you’ve got that information doesn’t mean you’ll get better hydration,\u201d he says.<\/p> \u201cThere’s only so much fluid that you can deliver to the athletes anyway.\u201d<\/p> Mitchell does believe teams are monitoring riders’ body temperatures in races in a bid to stop them from overheating, though.<\/p> A rise in core temperature downregulates enzymes that are responsible for metabolic activity, such as digestion and energy production.<\/p> \u201cThis is why you feel so bad when you have a fever. As you get too hot, your body will try to stop you from producing the effort that\u2019s causing the temperature,\u201d he says.<\/p> \u201cEventually, you\u2019ll blow up massively when you overheat.\u201d<\/p> Usually, cyclists can withstand higher temperatures than other sportspeople due to the cooling effect of the wind.<\/p> But Mitchell says: \u201cAs you climb a mountain, you ride slower and receive less breeze.<\/p> \u201cThere\u2019s also the heat radiating off the mountain and road.\u201d<\/p> Devices such as the Core Body Temperature Sensor can provide a \u201cconfirmation to the perception of overheating\u201d, according to Mitchell.<\/p>Minimal fat and simple protein<\/h3>
Carnivore for the Tour<\/h3>
The fight against \u2018flavour fatigue\u2019<\/h3>
Gels from the start\u00a0<\/h2>
Personalised hydration and fuelling plans\u00a0\u00a0<\/h2>
Sensors galore (but maybe not in racing)<\/h2>
Staying cool\u00a0<\/h3>
![\"Soudal](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2024\/07\/GettyImages-2161398431.jpg\")