Victor's headline numbers
Victor's strategy
Fueling
T - 1-4hrs: Ate a carb rich meal (Low in fat & fibre)
Victor would benefit from taking in a final dose of carb <30 minutes before
Victor is extremely meticulous when it comes to fueling his performances, and according to team nutritionist Britt Lambrecht “he knows his strategy inside out”. After a pre-weighed breakfast of oats and rice milk, Victor went on to exceed his 120g carb per hour target during the stage.
Hydration
Taking on board an appropriate amount of fluid and sodium is essential to maintaining blood volume and supporting the cardiovascular effort needed to perform on race day.
Whilst the absolute amount of sodium and fluid consumed per hour is important, it’s critical to consider these in relation to each other. This is known as 'relative sodium concentration' and it’s expressed in milligrams per litre (mg/L). How much sodium you’re taking in per litre of fluid is more important than the absolute amount taken in per hour.
T - 60mins: Drank ~500ml of strong electrolyte drink
Victor was able to use his years of experience and sweat testing data to understand how much fluid and sodium to drink to combat his losses during this stage. He picked up eight bottles of drink mix from soigneurs at the side of the road and from team musettes in feed zones.
Caffeine
Beyond the Three Levers of Performance (carb, sodium and fluid), caffeine is one of only a few substances that is proven to improve performance for most endurance athletes as it can help stave off mental and physical fatigue.
Consuming caffeine in the hours before the start may have increased perceived energy levels
The riders at Lotto Dstny would usually utilise the performance enhancing effects of caffeine during their races, but stage 13 was actually shorter than most and in Victors words, involved “not much climbing” (*despite the stage finishing with a 1,500m climb up the Grand Colmbier!*). This meant he didn’t feel the need to utilise caffeine on the day.
How Victor hit his numbers
Here's everything that Victor ate and drank on the day...
Final thoughts
“I safely made it in time, which is all I could have asked for on this day.”
“Victor was pleased with his personal performance on the day, nailing both his hydration and fueling targets for the 13th stage in a row. The feeling around the team bus afterwards was bittersweet, having lost sprinter Caleb Ewan from the race whilst celebrating Victor’s teammate Maxim Van Gils’ podium performance.”
PF&HVictor's full stats
Data Confidence
We rate each of our case studies from 1-5 based on the level of accuracy, and our confidence in the data.
There is an adequate level of accuracy in the data collected and the numbers reported. The athlete manages to recall what they ate and drank including most specifics (brands flavours quantities plausible estimations of volumes). However there are estimations made within the data which affect the overall confidence level in the data reported.