Tour de France, the question of the day: “After the races, I did in my froc”, how did Pogacar and the peloton revolutionized food?

Sixty all wet kilos. Nevertheless, The image of the gringalet cyclist swallowing the passes after weighing each grain of rice has hard skin. Nevertheless, Except that she is no longer true. Place now at La Grande Bouffe. “We went from a single. double”underlines Julien Louis, nutritionist of the Decathlon-Ag2r team after working for the Liverpool football club, and who does not hesitate to speak of a revolution. In fact. this is a turn to 180 degrees compared to the years 2010 and the fashion of “low carb” (ketogenic regime, poor in carbohydrates), popularized by the tour de france, question day: Sky team of the quadruple winner of the Tour de France Chris Froome.

Up to 7000 calories per day – Tour de france, question day:

This method was to deprive the body of sugars in training to lose weight. push the body to draw on fats to produce energy. “Mentally it was very hard, we were hungry, without energy, to type in fats”abounds the climber Pavel Sivakov. However, carbohydrates are the main fuel in performance.

And it takes a lot to compensate for the huge energy expenses – up to 7. 000 calories on a mountain stage in the Tour. “You have to eat four times more than a normal person”summarizes the Franco-British Simon Carr, very trendy nutrition. The Cofidis runner confirms that we have “Never ate so much on a bike”. Happy consequence: we hardly see no clothes anymore.

And for good reason: most runners now absorb up to tour de france, question day: 120 grams of carbohydrates per hour, the equivalent of six bananas. But engulfed such quantities was unimaginable until recently, because causing too large intestinal disorder. “Five years ago, 120 g of carbohydrates per hour, it was impossible. After the races, I was doing in my froc”explained Tadej Pogacar in a podcast in September.

Place “Gut Training”. intestinal training

According to all actors, this progress in nutrition contributes to explaining, with the evolution of equipment and training methods, the increasing performance in cycling, a sport often suspected of doping.

The runners are still forced to train their stomachs to withstand such quantities. During the winter courses. the runners thus carry out “At least one session per week where we do an intestinal training, the” gut training “”underlines Julien Louis.