Sugar Rush: Pro Cycling's Carb Revolution
A new episode of KM0 is online now for Friends of the Podcast subscribers
The last time the Giro d’Italia reached this point with a bigger gap between first and second overall was 2002 when Jens Heppner led Stefano Garzelli by more than three-and-a-half minutes.
Heppner had got into a break that gained more than five minutes on the sixth stage to Varazze. The former East German was an almost stereotypical workhorse sort of rider, not expected to be any threat overall and gradually, over the middle week of the race, he handed back chunks of time before finally slipping out of the pink jersey at the beginning of the third week. Heppner pulled out of the race a few days after losing the lead having tumbled down the general classification.
Tadej Pogačar leads Dani Martinez by two minutes and 40 seconds after a week of racing and no one is expecting him fall away Heppner-style, quite the opposite, in fact. The question is how big Pog’s advantage will be after Tuesday’s stage to Bocca della Selva and Sunday’s to Livigno. The assumption is that the final week will all be about energy management (if Pogačar even knows the meaning of the phrase) so that he is well placed to become the first rider in more than quarter-of-a-century to win the Giro-Tour double.
New KM0 – Sugar Rush: Pro Cycling’s Carb Revolution
There’s a new episode of KM0 on the Friends of the Podcast feed now. It’s called Sugar Rush, and it examines the relatively recent trend of riders consuming much higher quantities of carbohydrate and the impact that has had on the racing.
It’s something many riders have mentioned in recent years. Ben Swift, for example, whose career spans 15 years, talked last year about how the way riders fuel before, during and after a race nowadays would have been unthinkable a decade ago.
Two of our former long-term partners, Science In Sport and Supersapiens, have played a role in this revolution too. Think back to the 2018 Giro d’Italia when Chris Froome launched his long-range attack on the stage from Venaria Reale (coincidentally where this year’s Giro started) and Bardonecchia. Just as important as the tactical decision-making on the road was the fuelling strategy Team Sky put in place, ensuring Froome was kept supplied with food and drinks while on his own for more than 80 kilometres. That was the very early days of Science In Sport’s new Beta Fuel, which can help to deliver digestible carbs in far higher quantities than it was previously thought the body could cope with, let alone make use of.
Supersapiens, and other blood glucose monitoring technology, although not permitted in competition, have nevertheless given sports scientists and athletes a far deeper understanding of how the body processes food and uses it as fuel. It’s not just about the type and quantity of food consumed, the order foods are eaten can alter the glucose response meaning that fuelling is far more specific to the individual and strategies need to be tested, studied and tailored for optimum performance.
In the episode we hear from Tadej Pogačar’s performance coach Jeroen Swart, Ineos nutritionist Marc Fell, Cofidis rider Harrison Wood and, for an old school perspective, Max Sciandri recalls the days when pasta and panini were king.
Il Barone’s photo gallery
From the KM0 vault: Il Garibaldi
Today’s delve into the KM0 vault takes us back to the 2018 Giro when Daniel and I made an episode about il Garibaldi or, to give it the more prosaic name, the Giro d’Italia’s roadbook. All major events have a roadbook of some description detailing the route but il Garibaldi captures the history, geography and culture of the regions the race passes through better than most. We delved into its pages, spoke to some of its devotees and explained the origin of the name.
This episode – along with more than 150 others – is on the KM0 Archive feed, which is available to Friends of the Podcast subscribers, but you can listen to it here…
We are also in the process of merging and re-organising the Friends of the Podcast feed and the KM0 archive feed so that all our audio content for subscribers is available in one place. It’s quite a big job but we hope to have it completed before the Tour de France.
Listen to Il Garibaldi
The Girovagando case from DVine Cellars
The 2024 Girovagando case of six wines, curated by our friends at DVine Cellars, is available to buy now. My case is due any moment now. I’ve been pressing refresh on the tracking information all morning and it’s now six stops away. More news as we have it…
Enter the Slipstream – UK theatrical premiere next week
Don’t forget tickets are available for three screenings of Enter the Slipstream, made behind-the-scenes with the EF Pro Cycling team during the 2020 ‘lockdown’ Tour de France, next week.
If you want to see the film, you can buy tickets for all three screenings below.
London – Via Atelier on Thursday, May 16 at 6pm
18-19 Stable Street, London
Tickets
Alderley Edge – Velo Edge on Saturday, May 18 at 5.30pm
48a London Road, Alderley Edge
Tickets
Glasgow – Drygate Brewery on Sunday, May 19 at 5.30pm
85 Drygate, Glasgow
Tickets
Stage 10 of our Girovagando coverage will be on air tomorrow night, following the rest day. Join Daniel and Brian rested, refreshed and ready for the race to resume. The 11.01 Cappuccino will be back on Wednesday.
A big thank you to MAAP for supporting The Cycling Podcast. Check out the full range of clothing to make you look the part on, and off, the bike at maap.cc