By Professor James Morton and Marc Fell
Demands of the event
The cycling grand tours (the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta España) represent the pinnacle of the cycling road season. Each grand tour comprises 21 daily stages (~200 km or 4 to 5 hours per stage) with only 2 to 3 days of rest, that is, 80 to 100 hours of competition during which riders must cover 3500 to 4000 km with climbing distances ranging from 40-50,000 metres. These races are competed over different types of stages and terrains usually comprising flat stages, mountain stages and time-trials. The demanding nature of these events prove them to be some of the most gruelling events in sport with recent research reporting that grand tour cyclists expend a staggering ~7700 kcals per day during the Giro d’Italia (Plasqui et al. 2019). Additionally, riders have the added challenge of completing tough blocks of back-to-back mountain and summit finish stages alongside the extreme environmental conditions of changing ambient temperatures and altitudes. Given the formidable challenges associated with these races, nutrition can therefore play a pivotal role in the success of riders with the focus being around the challenges of optimal fuelling and recovery, weight management and illness prevention.
General nutrition goals
Each stage typically finishes between 5 and 6 pm and the subsequent stage commences the next day between 12 noon and 1 pm. This provides an 18 h turnaround time to recover from one stage and prepare for the next. Recovery begins straight after the stage through bespoke recovery drinks containing a blend of carbohydrate and protein, fruit smoothies and high carbohydrate-based foods. Depending on the stage intensity, riders will typically consume carbohydrate at a rate of 1-1.5 g/kg per hour during the first 2-3 hours (Thomas et al. 2016). After another couple of hours of rest, riders would then have their main evening meal aiming for 3 g/kg of carbohydrate. The following morning, riders’ breakfast contains a mix of carbohydrates (aiming for 2-3 g/kg) such as porridge, fruits, smoothies, pasta, rice, breads etc. In this way, riders have consumed 8-12 g/kg body mass and should commence each stage with fully loaded muscle and liver glycogen stores ready for another 5-6 hours in the saddle! When considering the volume of food consumed within this short window of opportunity, it is likely that riders have trained their gut over time to tolerate such large amounts of food without any associated gastrointestinal distress.
