A revolution in carbohydrate intake brings the “turbo” to professional cycling.

How can it be that professional cyclists can achieve such performance these days? Breakthroughs in nutritional science have allowed cyclists to consume more carbohydrates per hour than ever before.

How far can this revolution go?

Cyclists have been consuming completely new amounts of carbohydrates in recent years and more records are being broken than ever before.

In the last five or six years, carbohydrate intake has changed dramatically. Cyclists can now consume many more carbohydrates, almost twice as much as before. This has a massive impact on performance, but also on recovery. This is one of the main reasons why cyclists perform at such a high level for so long and reproduce it day after day.

This season, 7W/kg became the new norm for climbers participating in major tours. The champions of the classic races applied 5.5 W/kg for hours, and victories were achieved with outputs of over 1,200 watts well into the sixth hour of racing. It's no coincidence that carbohydrate intake increased in line with these stunning performance gains.

Nutrition trends come and go, but carbohydrates will always remain king of the endurance world. Whether from a bag of raw sugar or a stack of sweet potatoes: carbohydrates are the macronutrient for energy production.

Cyclists currently consume 100-120 grams of carbohydrates per hour. That's almost twice as much as a decade ago. It is the carbohydrate equivalent of one ounce of Coca-Cola every 20 minutes, or more than two cups of cooked white rice per hour.

Nutrition and especially carbohydrates have now become so important that they are seen as the third pillar of professional cycling alongside training and technique. The ability to tolerate carbohydrates becomes one of the most important factors in victory or defeat.

It is normal for a cyclist not to be able to maintain the same performance over a long race. However, a cyclist who is not optimally nourished will experience a much faster decline in performance. Carbohydrates are extremely important in mitigating this decline.

That's why the motto when racing is: more is more

Carb loading is nothing new. Top cyclists have been eating sugary and starchy foods for a long time. What has changed, however, is the way cyclists replenish their glycogen stores. New formulations from nutritional brands such as Santa Madre, 6d Sports Nutrition, Amacx, Neversecond, Maurten, 226ers, TORQ mean that the age-old carbohydrate "cap" of 60-90 grams simply seems too little.

Thanks to “Hydrogel” and other similar forms of administration and new glucose-fructose ratios that ensure that what goes down stays down, the amounts that are digested and used in the body have been increased.

The risk of gastrointestinal problems caused by excessive consumption - nausea, flatulence, cramps or diarrhea - has been extremely reduced by these scientific preparations and the amounts of sugar that previously seemed impossible are now harmless to the stomach. These new products from the brands mentioned above mean that more and more riders can now consume 120 to 140 grams of carbohydrates per hour without any discomfort.

In the past, you might have had to take five or six gels to reach those carbohydrate levels, but the risk of gastrointestinal problems was much higher. That’s why a few years ago 60 to 90 grams per hour was considered a safer limit."

Train to eat, eat to train

Cyclists these days have fuel and power goals for almost every training session. Eating that many carbs takes practice. Cyclists now advance their training as they advance their races. Low-carb or fasted training is still relevant, but it is carefully periodized and structured into a training program.

Fasting or low-carb workouts promote the body's use of fats as fuel. It is a practice that refines a rider's performance. But it's the high-carb workouts that break through plateaus and build the ability to perform race-winning bursts of performance.

For each low-sugar basic training session, a cyclist must complete high-performance training using gels, bars and energy drinks. This allows riders to figure out how much they can tolerate, prepare their gastrointestinal tract for the carbohydrate consumption of the race, and help them train the intervals as best as possible.

Eat to train, eat to race, eat to recover

An improved understanding of nutrition is one of the indicators of cyclists recent progress. Cyclists eat better both off and on the bike. The modern cyclist burns about 5,000 to 7,000 calories from breakfast to bedtime. The calories are used for racing and recovery. And a better understanding of athletic recovery means that performance standstill is a long way off.

Shifting the focus to higher amounts of carbohydrates means that cyclists are tasked with maintaining carbohydrate intake well into the final miles of a race or training session. It is known that "refueling" on the bike leads to less power degradation, less protein breakdown and better maintenance of your training status.

Professional cyclists eat more carbohydrates than before

If cyclists can consume more carbohydrates, they will be able to train harder and recover better. And the ability to tolerate more carbohydrates for training, racing, and recovery creates a sort of self-perpetuating cycle. The outcome? You go faster. Yet ironically, the intensity enabled by more energy in the form of carbohydrates can only be maintained with... more carbohydrates.

That's why higher carbohydrate consumption has a two-fold effect. Athletes can achieve better quality training, more of it, and they can perform better on race days. During harder races cyclist use more energy. Therefore, cyclists need to consume more energy in the form of carbohydrates during and after the race in order to recover properly.

Physiologists and nutritionists acknowledge that there is a limit to “safe” carbohydrate intake, but do not believe that elite athletes have found it yet. Meanwhile, nutritional brands are evolving their product lines to meet the demand for more, and physiologists are working with test subjects to see how far they can go. Therefore, it is only a matter of time before today's carbohydrate cap "drops."