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LeMonde
11-07-2025
- Sport
- LeMonde
Tour de France 2025 : le classement général après la septième étape
Tadej Pogacar a remporté la 7 e étape du Tour de France, disputée vendredi 11 juillet entre Saint-Malo et Mûr-de-Bretagne, dans les Côtes-d'Armor. Le Slovène récupère du même coup le maillot jaune de leader du classement général. Tadej Pogacar (Slovénie ; UAE Team Emirates-XRG) Temps : 25h58'04 « Remco Evenepoel (Belgique ; Soudal-Quick Step) + 54 s Kévin Vauquelin (France ; Arkéa-B&B Hotels) + 1 min 11 s Jonas Vingegaard (Danemark ; Visma-Lease a Bike) + 1 min 17 s Mathieu Van Der Poel (Pays-Bas ; Alpecin-Deceuninck) + 1 min 29 s Matteo Jorgenson (Etats-Unis ; Visma-Lease a Bike) + 1 min 34 s Oscar Onley (Royaume-Uni ; Picnic-PostNL) + 2 min 49 s Florian Lipowitz (Allemagne ; Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) + 3 min 2 s Primoz Roglic (Slovénie ; Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) + 3 min 6 s Mattias Skjelmose (Danemark ; Lidl-Trek) + 3 min 43 s Ben Healy (Irlande ; EF Education-EasyPost) + 3 min 55 s Tobias Johannessen (Norvège ; Uno-X Mobility) + 4 min 28 s Enric Mas (Espagne ; Movistar) + 4 min 35 s Félix Gall (Autriche ; Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) + 4 min 49 s Carlos Rodriguez (Espagne ; Ineos Grenadiers) + 4 min 51 s Jordan Jegat (France ; TotalEnergies) + 5 min 39 s Aurélien Paret-Peintre (France ; Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) + 7 min 23 s Ben O'Connor (Australie ; Jayco-AlUla) + 8 min 10 s Jhonatan Narvaez (Equateur ; UAE Team Emirates-XRG) + 8 min 11 s Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet (France ; Groupama-FDJ) + 8 min 13 s Emanuel Buchmann (Allemagne ; Cofidis) + 8 min 35 s Tiesj Benoot (Belgique ; Visma-Lease a Bike) + 9 min 6 s Valentin Madouas (France ; Groupama-FDJ) + 9 min 35 s Romain Gregoire (France ; Groupama-FDJ) + 9 min 59 s Cristian Rodriguez (Espagne ; Arkéa-B&B Hotels) + 10 min 52 s Jenno Berckmoes (Belgique ; Lotto) + 11 min 0 s Xandro Meurisse (Belgique ; Alpecin-Deceuninck) + 11 min 17 s Joao Almeida (Portugal ; UAE Team Emirates-XRG) + 12 min 21 s Steff Cras (Belgique ; TotalEnergies) + 14 min 55 s Quentin Pacher (France ; Groupama-FDJ) + 15 min 48 s Warren Barguil (France ; Picnic-PostNL) + 16 min 8 s Neilson Powless (Etats-Unis ; EF Education-EasyPost) + 16 min 17 s Edward Dunbar (Irlande ; Jayco-AlUla) + 16 min 29 s Sepp Kuss (Etats-Unis ; Visma-Lease a Bike) + 16 min 45 s Simon Yates (Royaume-Uni ; Visma-Lease a Bike) + 16 min 49 s Alexandre Delettre (France ; TotalEnergies) + 16 min 56 s Tim Wellens (Belgique ; UAE Team Emirates-XRG) + 17 min 11 s Santiago Buitrago (Colombie ; Bahrain Victorius) + 17 min 19 s Axel Laurance (France ; Ineos Grenadiers) + 18 min 57 s Clément Venturini (France ; Arkéa-B&B Hotels) + 19 min 1 s Clément Berthet (France ; Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) + 19 min 9 s Alex Baudin (France ; EF Education-EasyPost) + 19 min 12 s Pascal Eenkhoorn (Pays-Bas ; Soudal-Quick Step) + 20 min 27 s Joseph Blackmore (Royaume-Uni ; Israel-Premier Tech) + 21 min 10 s Markus Hoelgaard (Norvège ; Uno-X Mobility) + 21 min 38 s Geraint Thomas (Royaume-Uni ; Ineos Grenadiers) + 21 min 48 s Harrison Sweeny (Australie ; EF Education-EasyPost) + 22 min 1 s Sergio Higuita (Colombie ; XDS-Astana) + 22 min 34 s Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) + 22 min 41 s Ilan Van Wilder (Belgique ; Soudal-Quick Step) + 23 min 3 s Callum Scotson (Australie ; Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) + 24 min 12 s Mathieu Burgaudeau (France ; TotalEnergies) + 24 min 26 s Simone Velasco (Italie ; XDS-Astana) + 24 min 41 s Julian Alaphilippe (France ; Tudor) + 24 min 41 s Thymen Arensman (Pays-Bas ; Ineos Grenadiers) + 24 min 50 s Toms Skujins (Lettonie ; Lidl-Trek) + 25 min 39 s Gregor Mühlberger (Autriche ; Movistar) + 25 min 57 s Matteo Trentin (Italie ; Tudor) + 26 min 28 s Adam Yates (Royaume-Uni ; UAE Team Emirates-XRG) + 26 min 32 s Wout Van Aert (Belgique ; Visma-Lease a Bike) + 26 min 36 s Quinn Simmons (Etats-Unis ; Lidl-Trek) + 27 min 37 s Alexey Lutsenko (Kazakhstan ; Israel-Premier Tech) + 27 min 40 s Jasper Stuyven (Belgique ; Lidl-Trek) + 27 min 57 s Krists Neilands (Lettonie ; Israel-Premier Tech) + 28 min 5 s Nelson Oliveira (Portugal ; Movistar) + 28 min 15 s Oliver Naesen (Belgique ; Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) + 28 min 33 s Alex Aranburu (Espagne ; Cofidis) + 29 min 9 s Frank Van Den Broek (Pays-Bas ; Picnic-PostNL) + 29 min 10 s Tobias Lund Andresen (Danemark ; Picnic-PostNL) + 30 min 6 s Victor Campenaerts (Belgique ; Visma-Lease a Bike) + 30 min 9 s Bastien Tronchon (France ; Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) + 30 min 36 s Clément Champoussin (France ; XDS-Astana) + 31 min 5 s Raul Garcia Pierna (Espagne ; Arkéa-B&B Hotels) + 31 min 59 s Tobias Foss (Norvège ; Ineos Grenadiers) + 32 min 5 s Thomas Gachignard (France ; TotalEnergies) + 32 min 18 s Bruno Armirail (France ; Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) + 32 min 53 s Marc Soler (Espagne ; UAE Team Emirates-XRG) + 32 min 59 s Ion Izagirre (Espagne ; Cofidis) + 32 min 59 s Maximilian Schachmann (Allemagne ; Soudal-Quick Step) + 34 min 4 s Cyril Barthe (France ; Groupama-FDJ) + 34 min 30 s Marc Hirschi (Suisse ; Tudor) + 34 min 49 s Kasper Asgreen (Danemark ; EF Education-EasyPost) + 36 min 54 s Andreas Leknessund (Norvège ; Uno-X Mobility) + 37 min 5 s Gianni Moscon (Italie ; Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) + 37 min 14 s Thibau Nys (Belgique ; Lidl-Trek) + 38 min 15 s Mauro Schmid (Suisse ; Jayco-AlUla) + 38 min 23 s Michael Woods (Canada ; Israel-Premier Tech) + 38 min 39 s Harold Tejada (Colombie ; XDS-Astana) + 38 min 51 s Damien Touzé (France ; Cofidis) + 39 min 42 s Connor Swift (Royaume-Uni ; Ineos Grenadiers) + 40 min 9 s Robert Stannard (Australie ; Bahrain Victorius) + 40 min 39 s Michael Valgren (Danemark ; EF Education-EasyPost) + 40 min 39 s Mathis Le Berre (France ; Arkéa-B&B Hotels) + 40 min 57 s Laurence Pithie (Nouvelle-Zélande ; Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) + 41 min 2 s Louis Barré (France ; Intermarché-Wanty) + 41 min 13 s Dylan Teuns (Belgique ; Cofidis) + 41 min 50 s Ivan Garcia Cortina (Espagne ; Movistar) + 42 min 3 s Gianni Vermeersch (Belgique ; Alpecin-Deceuninck) + 43 min 13 s Marco Haller (Autriche ; Tudor) + 43 min 14 s Ivan Romeo Abad (Espagne ; Movistar) + 43 min 18 s Anders Johannessen (Norvège ; Uno-X Mobility) + 43 min 19 s Pavel Sivakov (France ; UAE Team Emirates-XRG) + 43 min 55 s Emiel Verstrynge (Belgique ; Alpecin-Deceuninck) + 44 min 29 s Marius Mayrhofer (Allemagne ; Tudor) + 44 min 56 s Valentin Paret-Peintre (France ; Soudal-Quick Step) + 44 min 57 s Jonas Abrahamsen (Norvège ; Uno-X Mobility) + 45 min 0 s Matis Louvel (France ; Israel-Premier Tech) + 45 min 25 s Bryan Coquard (France ; Cofidis) + 45 min 37 s Fred Wright (Royaume-Uni ; Bahrain Victorius) + 45 min 58 s Ewen Costiou (France ; Arkéa-B&B Hotels) + 46 min 0 s Kaden Groves (Australie ; Alpecin-Deceuninck) + 46 min 29 s Jonas Rutsch (Allemagne ; Intermarché-Wanty) + 46 min 52 s Michael Storer (Australie ; Tudor) + 46 min 56 s Luke Plapp (Australie ; Jayco-AlUla) + 47 min 40 s Georg Zimmermann (Allemagne ; Intermarché-Wanty) + 47 min 46 s Mike Teunissen (Pays-Bas ; XDS-Astana) + 47 min 56 s Matej Mohoric (Slovénie ; Bahrain Victorius) + 48 min 0 s Einer Rubio Reyes (Colombie ; Movistar) + 48 min 8 s Brent Van Moer (Belgique ; Lotto) + 48 min 55 s William Barta (Etats-Unis ; Movistar) + 49 min 22 s Vincenzo Albanese (Italie ; EF Education-EasyPost) + 49 min 36 s Pablo Castrillo Zapater (Espagne ; Movistar) + 50 min 28 s Anthony Turgis (France ; TotalEnergies) + 50 min 47 s Nils Politt (Allemagne ; UAE Team Emirates-XRG) + 50 min 51 s Jonas Rickaert (Belgique ; Alpecin-Deceuninck) + 51 min 5 s Lenny Martinez (France ; Bahrain Victorius) + 51 min 45 s Benjamin Thomas (France ; Cofidis) + 52 min 6 s Niklas Märkl (Allemagne ; Picnic-PostNL) + 53 min 28 s Clément Russo (France ; Groupama-FDJ) + 54 min 9 s Paul Penhoet (France ; Groupama-FDJ) + 54 min 29 s Sean Flynn (Royaume-Uni ; Picnic-PostNL) + 56 min 28 s Pascal Ackermann (Allemagne ; Israel-Premier Tech) + 59 min 24 s Danny Van Poppel (Pays-Bas ; Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) + 59 min 25 s Tim Naberman (Pays-Bas ; Picnic-PostNL) + 59 min 43 s Samuel Watson (Royaume-Uni ; Ineos Grenadiers) + 59 min 50 s Eduardo Sepulveda (Argentine ; Lotto) + 1 h 0 min 16 s Edoardo Affini (Italie ; Visma-Lease a Bike) + 1 h 0 min 21 s Amaury Capiot (Belgique ; Arkéa-B&B Hotels) + 1 h 0 min 30 s Alberto Dainese (Italie ; Tudor) + 1 h 0 min 51 s Elmar Reinders (Pays-Bas ; Jayco-AlUla) + 1 h 2 min 22 s Marijn Van Den Berg (Pays-Bas ; EF Education-EasyPost) + 1 h 2 min 29 s Jake Stewart (Royaume-Uni ; Israel-Premier Tech) + 1 h 3 min 8 s Soren Waerenskjold (Norvège ; Uno-X Mobility) + 1 h 3 min 28 s Luka Mezgec (Slovénie ; Jayco-AlUla) + 1 h 3 min 34 s Pavel Bittner (République tchèque ; Picnic-PostNL) + 1 h 3 min 55 s Lewis Askey (Royaume-Uni ; Groupama-FDJ) + 1 h 4 min 42 s Stian Edvardsen-Fredheim (Norvège ; Uno-X Mobility) + 1 h 5 min 21 s Lennert Van Eetvelt (Belgique ; Lotto) + 1 h 6 min 6 s Hugo Page (France ; Intermarché-Wanty) + 1 h 6 min 21 s Magnus Cort Nielsen (Danemark ; Uno-X Mobility) + 1 h 6 min 27 s Alexis Renard (France ; Cofidis) + 1 h 6 min 39 s Biniam Girmay (Erythrée ; Intermarché-Wanty) + 1 h 6 min 47 s Jonathan Milan (Italie ; Lidl-Trek) + 1 h 6 min 54 s Tim Merlier (Belgique ; Soudal-Quick Step) + 1 h 6 min 56 s Bert Van Lerberghe (Belgique ; Soudal-Quick Step) + 1 h 7 min 1 s Luke Durbridge (Australie ; Jayco-AlUla) + 1 h 7 min 28 s Dylan Groenewegen (Pays-Bas ; Jayco-AlUla) + 1 h 7 min 51 s Vito Braet (Belgique ; Intermarché-Wanty) + 1 h 7 min 52 s Laurenz Rex (Belgique ; Intermarché-Wanty) + 1 h 8 min 0 s Mick Van Dijke (Pays-Bas ; Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) + 1 h 8 min 4 s Guillaume Boivin (Canada ; Israel-Premier Tech) + 1 h 8 min 44 s Jarrad Drizners (Australie ; Lotto) + 1 h 9 min 33 s Arnaud Demare (France ; Arkéa-B&B Hotels) + 1 h 9 min 50 s Cees Bol (Pays-Bas ; XDS-Astana) + 1 h 10 min 12 s Fabian Lienhard (Suisse ; Tudor) + 1 h 10 min 16 s Phil Bauhaus (Allemagne ; Bahrain Victorius) + 1 h 10 min 43 s Sébastien Grignard (Belgique ; Lotto) + 1 h 11 min 43 s Davide Ballerini (Italie ; XDS-Astana) + 1 h 12 min 7 s Kamil Gradek (Pologne ; Bahrain Victorius) + 1 h 12 min 45 s Simone Consonni (Italie ; Lidl-Trek) + 1 h 13 min 27 s Arnaud De Lie (Belgique ; Lotto) + 1 h 15 min 0 s Jordi Meeus (Belgique ; Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) + 1 h 15 min 19 s Edward Theuns (Belgique ; Lidl-Trek) + 1 h 15 min 35 s Silvan Dillier (Suisse ; Alpecin-Deceuninck) + 1 h 16 min 1 s Roel Van Sintmaartensdijk (Pays-Bas ; Intermarché-Wanty) + 1 h 16 min 34 s Matteo Vercher (France ; TotalEnergies) + 1 h 16 min 59 s Yevgeniy Fedorov (Kazakhstan ; XDS-Astana) + 1 h 17 min 35 s
LeMonde
05-07-2025
- Sport
- LeMonde
Ganna first to pull out of Tour de France in blow for Ineos
Former time-trial world champion Filippo Ganna pulled out of the Tour de France on Saturday's opening stage after struggling to shake off injuries from an early fall. The Italian Ineos rider would have been a contender on the lengthy stage 5 individual time-trial, having won the world title in 2020 and 2021. Ganna, a former two-time time trial world champion, crashed on a bend with 132 kilometers to go. The Ineos rider took a long time to get going again, after changing bike and even shoes, to catch up with the peloton. But he was dropped on the Cassel climb and decided to call it a day some 65 km from the finish of the first stage in Lille. It's a big blow for the Ineos team and for the 28-year-old Italian, who had enjoyed a fine classics campaign, including a second-place finish at Milan-Sanremo in March. Ganna was a candidate for victory in the stage 5 time trial in Caen, as was Stefan Bissegger. The Swiss rider from the Decathlon-AG2R team also fell on Saturday, four kilometers after Ganna, in the company of Belgian Thibau Nys. Visibly stunned, Bissegger underwent a concussion protocol before getting back on his bike. But he then put his foot down on this very nervous first stage in the North.
The Sun
30-06-2025
- Sport
- The Sun
Tour de France cyclists shift from starvation to high-carb diets for peak performance
NOT so long ago, cyclists heading into the Tour de France were skinny string beans weighing and measuring every grain of rice that entered their body but that image has not just gone, it's taken a seismic shift in the other direction. This year's riders will be gorging themselves like never before, taking on board the equivalent of a large plate of pasta per hour and even training their stomachs to cope with this influx of food. 'Intake has doubled,' Julien Louis, nutritionist for the Decathlon-AG2R team, told AFP. In fact, it's a 180-degree turnaround from the 2010s and the 'low carb' fad popularised by four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome's Sky team. This method consisted of depriving the body of sugars during training in order to lose weight and encourage the body to use fat for energy. 'Two eggs for breakfast and we were off for five-six hours of training, with water in the bottles. We were exhausted the whole time,' recalls British veteran Simon Yates, winner of the last Giro. Climber Pavel Sivakov paints an even more dramatic picture. 'Mentally, it was very hard,' he says. 'We were starving, with no energy, tapping into our fat.' Those days are gone. 'When there's nothing left in the tank the runner switches to using fat,' explains Louis who used to work for English Premier League side Liverpool. 'It works but it's much less effective than carbohydrates.' - 'Never eaten so much' - One look at the map for the Tour de France which runs 3,338 kilometres over three weeks from Lille, all the way down south and back up to Paris for the finish, is a giveaway when it comes to a rider's nutritional needs. He will burn through roughly 7,000 calories on one of the lung-busting, muscle-crunching mountain stages. 'You have to eat four times as much as a normal person,' says Cofidis rider Simon Carr. 'We've never eaten so much on a bike.' Most riders now take in up to 120 grammes of carbohydrates per hour while racing, in some cases even more, which is enormous. 'It's the equivalent of six bananas or around 200 grammes of dried pasta per hour,' says Louis. Until recently, eating such large quantities, mainly in the form of gels and energy drinks, was unimaginable, as it would lead to too much intestinal distress. 'Up until five years ago, 120g of carbohydrates per hour was impossible,' Tadej Pogacar explained in a podcast in September, adding such an intake would have had him in dire need of a trip to the toilet. - Intestinal training - Since then, great progress has been made with energy products, which now contain a combination of two types of carbohydrate. 'For a long time, we thought there was only one kind of carbohydrate transporter in the intestine,' explains Louis. 'Then we discovered that there was a second type that could transport fructose. As a result, by using these two pathways at the same time, we can push through twice as much sugar.' According to all the parties interviewed by AFP, these advances in nutrition, along with developments in equipment and training methods, help to explain the increasingly high levels of performance in cycling, a sport which has often been associated with doping. Although products are now better tolerated by the body, making this revolution possible, riders still have to train their stomachs to cope with such quantities. 'Otherwise you can't digest when you're asked to eat six gels an hour. Your body just can't cope,' says Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, this year's winner of the women's Paris-Roubaix and gold medallist in the cross-country mountain bike at the Paris Olympics. She found this out the hard way when she gave up, ill, during the World Championships in September, unused to the longer distances after her switch from mountain bikes. During winter training, the riders now do 'at least one session a week of intestinal training, or 'gut training'', says Louis. 'At the very beginning, there may be a little discomfort,' he adds. 'But without it, you're at a huge disadvantage. It's as if you're not running on the same fuel.'
Straits Times
30-06-2025
- Sport
- Straits Times
‘Starvation' days over as cyclists prepare to gorge on Tour de France
Soudal Quick-Step British rider Ethan Hayter, competes during the third stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour cycling race, on June 20. PHOTO: AFP 'Starvation' days over as cyclists prepare to gorge on Tour de France PARIS - Not so long ago, cyclists heading into the Tour de France were skinny string beans weighing and measuring every grain of rice that entered their body but that image has not just gone, it's taken a seismic shift in the other direction. This year's riders will be gorging themselves like never before, taking on board the equivalent of a large plate of pasta per hour and even training their stomachs to cope with this influx of food. 'Intake has doubled,' Julien Louis, nutritionist for the Decathlon-AG2R team, told AFP. In fact, it's a 180-degree turnaround from the 2010s and the 'low carb' fad popularised by four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome's Sky team. This method consisted of depriving the body of sugars during training in order to lose weight and encourage the body to use fat for energy. 'Two eggs for breakfast and we were off for five-six hours of training, with water in the bottles. We were exhausted the whole time,' recalls British veteran Simon Yates, winner of the last Giro. Climber Pavel Sivakov paints an even more dramatic picture. 'Mentally, it was very hard,' he says. 'We were starving, with no energy, tapping into our fat.' Those days are gone. 'When there's nothing left in the tank the runner switches to using fat,' explains Louis who used to work for English Premier League side Liverpool. 'It works but it's much less effective than carbohydrates.' - 'Never eaten so much' - One look at the map for the Tour de France which runs 3,338 kilometres over three weeks from Lille, all the way down south and back up to Paris for the finish, is a giveaway when it comes to a rider's nutritional needs. He will burn through roughly 7,000 calories on one of the lung-busting, muscle-crunching mountain stages. 'You have to eat four times as much as a normal person,' says Cofidis rider Simon Carr. 'We've never eaten so much on a bike.' Most riders now take in up to 120 grammes of carbohydrates per hour while racing, in some cases even more, which is enormous. 'It's the equivalent of six bananas or around 200 grammes of dried pasta per hour,' says Louis. Until recently, eating such large quantities, mainly in the form of gels and energy drinks, was unimaginable, as it would lead to too much intestinal distress. 'Up until five years ago, 120g of carbohydrates per hour was impossible,' Tadej Pogacar explained in a podcast in September, adding such an intake would have had him in dire need of a trip to the toilet. - Intestinal training - Since then, great progress has been made with energy products, which now contain a combination of two types of carbohydrate. 'For a long time, we thought there was only one kind of carbohydrate transporter in the intestine,' explains Louis. 'Then we discovered that there was a second type that could transport fructose. As a result, by using these two pathways at the same time, we can push through twice as much sugar.' According to all the parties interviewed by AFP, these advances in nutrition, along with developments in equipment and training methods, help to explain the increasingly high levels of performance in cycling, a sport which has often been associated with doping. Although products are now better tolerated by the body, making this revolution possible, riders still have to train their stomachs to cope with such quantities. 'Otherwise you can't digest when you're asked to eat six gels an hour. Your body just can't cope,' says Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, this year's winner of the women's Paris-Roubaix and gold medallist in the cross-country mountain bike at the Paris Olympics. She found this out the hard way when she gave up, ill, during the World Championships in September, unused to the longer distances after her switch from mountain bikes. During winter training, the riders now do 'at least one session a week of intestinal training, or 'gut training'', says Louis. 'At the very beginning, there may be a little discomfort,' he adds. 'But without it, you're at a huge disadvantage. It's as if you're not running on the same fuel.' jk/ig/bsp/nf SKY Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
France 24
30-06-2025
- Sport
- France 24
'Starvation' days over as cyclists prepare to gorge on Tour de France
This year's riders will be gorging themselves like never before, taking on board the equivalent of a large plate of pasta per hour and even training their stomachs to cope with this influx of food. "Intake has doubled," Julien Louis, nutritionist for the Decathlon-AG2R team, told AFP. In fact, it's a 180-degree turnaround from the 2010s and the "low carb" fad popularised by four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome's Sky team. This method consisted of depriving the body of sugars during training in order to lose weight and encourage the body to use fat for energy. "Two eggs for breakfast and we were off for five-six hours of training, with water in the bottles. We were exhausted the whole time," recalls British veteran Simon Yates, winner of the last Giro. Climber Pavel Sivakov paints an even more dramatic picture. "Mentally, it was very hard," he says. "We were starving, with no energy, tapping into our fat." Those days are gone. "When there's nothing left in the tank the runner switches to using fat," explains Louis who used to work for English Premier League side Liverpool. "It works but it's much less effective than carbohydrates." 'Never eaten so much' One look at the map for the Tour de France which runs 3,338 kilometres over three weeks from Lille, all the way down south and back up to Paris for the finish, is a giveaway when it comes to a rider's nutritional needs. He will burn through roughly 7,000 calories on one of the lung-busting, muscle-crunching mountain stages. "You have to eat four times as much as a normal person," says Cofidis rider Simon Carr. "We've never eaten so much on a bike." Most riders now take in up to 120 grammes of carbohydrates per hour while racing, in some cases even more, which is enormous. "It's the equivalent of six bananas or around 200 grammes of dried pasta per hour," says Louis. Until recently, eating such large quantities, mainly in the form of gels and energy drinks, was unimaginable, as it would lead to too much intestinal distress. "Up until five years ago, 120g of carbohydrates per hour was impossible," Tadej Pogacar explained in a podcast in September, adding such an intake would have had him in dire need of a trip to the toilet. Intestinal training Since then, great progress has been made with energy products, which now contain a combination of two types of carbohydrate. "For a long time, we thought there was only one kind of carbohydrate transporter in the intestine," explains Louis. "Then we discovered that there was a second type that could transport fructose. As a result, by using these two pathways at the same time, we can push through twice as much sugar." According to all the parties interviewed by AFP, these advances in nutrition, along with developments in equipment and training methods, help to explain the increasingly high levels of performance in cycling, a sport which has often been associated with doping. Although products are now better tolerated by the body, making this revolution possible, riders still have to train their stomachs to cope with such quantities. "Otherwise you can't digest when you're asked to eat six gels an hour. Your body just can't cope," says Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, this year's winner of the women's Paris-Roubaix and gold medallist in the cross-country mountain bike at the Paris Olympics. She found this out the hard way when she gave up, ill, during the World Championships in September, unused to the longer distances after her switch from mountain bikes. During winter training, the riders now do "at least one session a week of intestinal training, or 'gut training'", says Louis. "At the very beginning, there may be a little discomfort," he adds. "But without it, you're at a huge disadvantage. It's as if you're not running on the same fuel." © 2025 AFP
