Santa Vall Day 1

Jason started his day with a rice-based carb-rich breakfast along with some traditional German snacks (1 x packet of Haribo sweets) to ensure he began the race with fully topped up glycogen stores. During the race, he planned to carry four 500ml bidons, each filled with 120g carb in the form of Carb Only Drink Mix. Unfortunately, Jason dropped one of these bottles and missed a pick up at the chaotic feed zone, only securing one of his replacement bottles along with a third bottle from a friendly soigneur from another team. Although Jason missed some of his planned intake, he was still able to achieve the highest ever recorded carb intake in our Athlete Case Study Database at ~155g/h. Although this falls well-above the current recommendations, we are seeing elite cyclists with enormous rates of energy utilisation consuming well over 90g/h without issue and often to their benefit. This is especially true for stage races where repeat performance is crucial to success and increased carb intake can enhance recovery and next day performance following exhaustive exercise. Jason was off the front for the majority of the race, but unfortunately, he couldn’t come away with the win due to some classic gravel equipment issues despite feeling like he had enough energy and form on the day to do so.

One of the replacement bottles he secured after missing two of his own came from a helpful soigneur. Even though he didn’t know what product was contained in the bidon, this was a small risk Jason decided to take, as he typically doesn’t have a sensitive stomach. After tasting it, he noted it was not very concentrated and was therefore unlikely to cause him issues and he’d benefit from having the fluid on board. With this being such a short and cool race, ~638ml per hour was likely sufficient to maintain performance throughout. Jason noticed some small cramps, and although he suggests these did not heavily impact his performance, we would recommend he preloads with a strong electrolyte drink before his races to start optimally hydrated. Additionally, he should consider including some electrolytes in his drinks during races to ensure he stays more optimally hydrated throughout, and help reduce the risk of any further cramping. Focusing on preloading with electrolytes and replacing his losses during exercise will become more crucial as his races get longer and occur in warmer conditions, when net sodium losses increase with higher sweat rates and exercise duration.

Like any pro cyclist, Jason loves his pre-ride coffees. Sometimes, those sensitive coffee scales can also be used for measuring out your Carb Only Drink Mix to the gram like he does… Jason had two flat whites before this race but didn’t top up with any more caffeine. This meant that he was below the guidelines for caffeine usage and could benefit from additional doses before and during his race to increase focus and mask fatigue over longer races.