CyclistFully charged: Inside the carbohydrate revolutionFive years ago, after long races Id always end up running to the bathroom. Now I can consume up to 120g of carbohydrates per hour without any issues, said Tadej Pogaar after his historic Giro-Tour double of 2024. And in the Womens WorldTour a similar message came from Demi Vollering after winning the Tour de France Femmes in 2023: Before the race we make a food plan, looking at the stages and then seeing the race hour-by-hour. I then know what I want to eat and make sure I get those 100g of carbohydrates every hour.It seems that at cyclings top table a culinary trend is taking place. The worlds strongest riders are consuming huge numbers of calories on the bike, from energy bars to gels, blocks and drinks, and it may be a key reason behind the increasingly fast speeds being witnessed in races. So how is it that modern cyclists can stomach carbs at a rate that would previously have been unthinkable? And is it something that the average weekend warrior should be looking to emulate?Gorging on a marathonRob MiltonTheres a persuasive argument that the current appetite for greater carbohydrate feeding goes back to October 2019 when Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge became the first person to break two hours for the marathon. His time of 1h 59min 40sec didnt count as an official world record because it wasnt part of a sanctioned race. Instead it was an athletic experiment, bankrolled by Ineos, where the worlds finest sports science minds combined to create the perfect platform for speed and endurance.Vienna was chosen for its long, flat sections and tree-lined roads to protect Kipchoge from the wind; rotating pacemakers were kept in formation and on track by a green light beamed from the lead car; and Nikes carbon fibre-plated Vaporfly shoe put a scientifically proven spring in his step. Kipchoge also fuelled on products served up by a relatively unknown Scandinavian brand by the name of Maurten (pronounced Morton), chosen by the Ineos team for its mooted double benefit of high levels of digestible carbohydrate and low chances of gastro distress.Kipchoges sub-two-hour run was a marketing dream for Maurten, and its name and products soon spread to all endurance sports, including cycling. On the mens side Maurten now has sponsorship deals with Ineos Grenadiers, Lotto-Intermarch and Uno-X Mobility, while on the womens side it works with SD Worx-Protime and FDJ United-Suez.Maurtens USP was, and is, its hydrogel technology. Hydrogel is produced from sodium alginate and pectin. The idea is that hydrogel transforms into a jelly-like substance in the acidic environment of the stomach, which results in smoother and faster transport of carbohydrates through the intestine where they can be absorbed and assimilated into the bloodstream before fuelling working muscles. This proficiency also means that, in theory, the user can increase the amount of carbohydrates they consume during exercise, which is why Maurtens first product contained 320 calories or 80g carbohydrates per serving.The hydrogel concept was actually adapted from the pharmaceutical industry, as it provides a vessel to deliver medicines and control the rate of drug release, says Maurtens head of nutrition, Tobias Christensson. We undertook a great deal of carbohydrate metabolism work in the laboratories and have become very familiar with carbon-13 isotopes. This is a rare isotope and we can track it through the body. Lifting the lid on an exercising athlete helps us to develop our products.All of this carbohydrate gluttony and the physiological backdrop behind it is academically impressive, but where is the evidence it makes you faster? That came via a 2022 study that showed 5km runners were 7.6% quicker after consuming the 90g-per-hour hydrogel formulation over the placebo, and 2.1% faster compared to a 90g-per-hour non-hydrogel carbohydrate drink.Before you start thinking Cyclist is working on behalf of the Maurten marketing team (were not), this increase of on-bike feeding isnt simply about the vessel for delivery. Its about a products formulation of carbohydrates.Those who keep a keen eye on nutrition will know that for years 60g of carbs per hour in the form of glucose or maltodextrin was perceived as the ceiling. Any more in and there would be a lot more flooding out. Then Dutch sports scientist Asker Jeukendrup discovered that adding fructose pushed this ceiling up to 90g per hour. Thats because fructose travels into the bloodstream via a different intestinal pathway than glucose and maltodextrin, leading to a flurry of products containing two parts glucose and one part fructose. Thats evolved again with talk that the top riders will enjoy bespoke formulations with ratios matched to their results in the lab.Ultimately it remains a point of debate as to what is the best ratio, says Christensson. We feel that current scientific literature suggests that a ratio closer to 1:1 is optimum, albeit it does vary by individual. In our gels were looking at a 1:0.8 ratio of glucose to fructose, while in our 160 mix drink were looking at 1:0.5. That difference is more taste than anything else as fructose is very sweet and we wanted a lower sweetness profile for the drink.Victor, king of carbsRob MiltonBritish brand Precision Fuel & Hydrations range of products contains that 2:1 ratio, although the company says its important not to be bogged down by the minutiae of ratios. Instead what matters is how you execute your fuelling plan and how youve practised it in training.It certainly did the trick for Victor Campenaerts on 18th July 2024. Thats when the Belgian outsprinted the experienced Micha Kwiatkowski and newcomer Matto Vercher to win a stage of the Tour de France. Campenaerts killer kick came after four hours and ten minutes of riding 179.5km from Gap to Barcelonnette, where the average temperature was 32C and the stage included 3,000m of climbing. Campenaerts looked a man possessed and fuelled by a lifelong dream. And, as it transpired, by a regimen that hit 132g of carbohydrates per hour.Back then, Campenaerts was riding for Lotto-Dstny, now Lotto, whose nutrition support was and still is Precision Fuel & Hydration. The companys founder and top sport scientist, Andy Blow, reflects on the practicalities of consuming so many carbohydrates without busting a gut:Before he got to the start line, Victor took a PF30 gel to top off his glycogen stores, before regularly consuming more gels throughout the race. As the intensity increased he incorporated some additional carbohydrates throughout his intake with PF30 gels, Carb Only Drink Mix and Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix, which helped him maintain a high carbohydrate intake, averaging over 130g per hour.Blow also points out that Campenaerts won despite missing out on a key bidon through being in the wrong place at the wrong time, though he was able to catch up on some of his lost fuel by picking up a gel from another teams soigneur and a water bidon to get him through to the next feed zone.Blow also suggests that Campenaerts extensive practice with gut training ensured he could comfortably tolerate a high sustained intake of carbohydrates during races. This harks back to Pogaars gradual increase to that 120g mark, which evolved over the years.Maurtens Christensson agrees that gut training is key to boosting the numbers: With practice, the intestine is extremely adaptable to high carbohydrate intake. Elite athletes are exposed to a high carbohydrate intake all the time so have a better capacity to ingest and turn over carbohydrates than us mere mortals.To me, it makes sense to train with around 20% higher carbohydrate intake than normal during specific sessions to adapt. The key is not to do it every session. Theres a fundamental conflict of blood supply between working muscles and the gastrointestinal tract to support digestion. Throw in the stress response of racing, which reduces the function and the capacity of the gut, and this tactic must be used sparingly.Blow at Precision Fuel & Hydration agrees: For recreational riders, you should begin your gut training plan around six to eight weeks before your main race. Start by fuelling to whatever level youre confident wont cause you any gut issues in the first week, then progressively increase the amount of grams of carbohydrates consumed per hour each week by an amount that will theoretically get you to your target just before your tapering period begins.Look to practise gut training in at least one, preferably two sessions a week, and ideally choose longer and harder sessions that most closely mimic event conditions and intensity. Also favour carbohydrate drinks and gels for the majority of your fuelling needs if your workouts are less than two to three hours or at very high intensity. Incorporate more solid foods if going over this time.This structured plan might not see you rub shoulders with the likes of Campenaerts but it should still result in improved performance. Failing that, you should at least feel less fatigued because, as research by former Ineos Grenadiers nutritionist Aitor Viribay reveals, high levels of carbohydrate results in less muscle damage.Cat 3 carbsRob MiltonWhen it comes to levels of carbs, how high is high for an amateur rider? Lets work back from the elites and find out.The highest level of carbohydrate feeding seen by Christensson and his team is 180g an hour by an elite triathlete. Viribay claims that some Ineos riders also reached that level in his time there. And at the beginning of this article we learnt that Pogaar is fuelled by 120g an hour. So we should all be chugging four to six 30g carbohydrate gels an hour, right? Not so fast. The fuelling strategy of elites wont work the same for amateurs.The power outputs of elites, which can be 300-plus watts for several hours at a time, means a massive energy output, says Christensson. Were talking 300g-plus of carbohydrates per hour, so even when they become more proficient at burning those carbohydrates, theres still a deficit, meaning relatively the amounts theyre consuming arent huge.Body size also impacts the carbohydrate equation, he adds. Firstly a larger body with greater muscle mass can not only store more carbohydrate but theyll burn through more too, so they generally require more from exogenous [outside feeding] sources. Take the big guys at Uno-X they burn a lot. A female athlete with a much lower body size and absolute power output wont need anywhere near that much.Amateurs, who wont be working at anything like the rate of pros, will have no need for pro levels of carb intake. However, according to Blow, most us could still do with increasing our carb levels when we do our hardest rides.In our experience, most amateur athletes tend to not consume enough carbohydrate per hour during hard training sessions and races, says Blow. That means you may not be consuming even 60g per hour, so training your gut to absorb an intake of 60g per hour may well be a necessary first step if youre looking to really optimise your performance in very long, hard events. Just dont be put off if you initially experience some level of gastrointestinal distress.For most amateurs who ride regularly, building up to taking 90g of carbs an hour via a mixture of glucose and fructose is realistic. Do that and youll unlock both performance and recovery gains, says Blow. Just note that unless youre well trained and prepared like Campenaerts on Stage 18 the heat impairs how much you can consume so you might want to dial down that carbohydrate number.What of the future? Will the likes of Pogaar keep adapting to the point where theyre consuming half a kilo of sugar per hour?No, says Christensson. We definitely wont see even 300g an hour. What we do know is that the attacking style of todays peloton is integral to this carbohydrate revolution. The high intensity of racing is more reliant on carbohydrate metabolism than, say, ten years ago. Teams also increasingly feature exercise physiologists with a strong academic background who know that this level of feeding is possible. But theres a definite ceiling for all individuals. Were just not quite sure where that ceiling is yet.The post Fully charged: Inside the carbohydrate revolution appeared first on Cyclist.