<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the Tudor team I work as a consultant to the nutritionists and occasionally the coaches. This is something I had wanted to do for some time, as it allows me to use my knowledge to help cyclists and leave my mark in the sport, while still dedicating most of my time to science,\u201d he explains. \u201cOur goal for now is not to win the Tour de France or the Giro, but to win a stage at a particular race or reach the podium. The team\u2019s aim is learning, progressing from season to season, and that maybe in three years we become a team with a WorldTour licence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why 200g of carbs per hour can be \u201cshooting yourself in the foot\u201d<\/p>\n
If Pogacar\u2019s physiology fascinates Podlogar, the sport\u2019s latest fuelling arms race worries him. \u201cAs for new developments: in the last year or two a trend of extremely high carbohydrate intake during races has transferred from triathlon into cycling. Ten years ago riders consumed around 80\u2013100 grams of carbohydrate per hour; until recently they aimed for around 100\u2013120 grams; today some riders are already talking about 150\u2013200 grams per hour, which is huge even for professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n
On paper it looks simple: more carbs, more power, more performance. In reality, Podlogar sees teams drifting away from the basics and straight into trouble. \u201cIn cycling, especially in multi-day stage races, energy balance is extremely important. The problem can go either way \u2013 sometimes too few carbohydrates, for example in mountain stages, and at other times too many, for example in sprint stages. Finding the right ratio and distribution is a constant challenge and a topic of endless discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n
He gives a very concrete example: when sprinters are taking in 120 g per hour on a relatively easy flat day, \u201cat the end of the day you find that the energy intake was too high \u2013 which means that in theory the rider would have to \u2018skip dinner\u2019, which the day before a hard mountain stage would be shooting yourself in the foot.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the sport\u2019s very best climbers, he sees a clear sweet spot. \u201cFor riders like Tadej Pogacar and Primoz Roglic<\/a>, who weigh between 60 and 70 kilos, an intake of around 100\u2013130 grams per hour during the hardest stages is the most sensible, definitely not 180 or even 200.\u201dVingegaard vs Van Aert: why two plates can look nothing alike<\/p>\n If Pogacar and Roglic are the obvious poster boys for high-performance fuelling, Podlogar is just as keen to stress how different riders within the same team really are. \u201cYes, intakes differ greatly between riders, so recently there has been more focus on individualising nutrition. I am currently researching how to determine the optimal carbohydrate intake for each individual rider during a race \u2013 the amount his body can actually absorb and effectively use during competition.\u201d<\/p>\n That is why he is relaxed about Jonas Vingegaard<\/a> and Wout van Aert<\/a> \u2013 two riders doing the same race \u2013 sitting down to completely different dinners. Body mass, role in the race, the following day\u2019s profile and individual gut tolerance all matter more to Podlogar than blindly copying a headline number like \u201c150\u2013200 g per hour\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe key is understanding the bigger picture \u2013 you must always know what comes the next day, not focus solely on the current stage. Energy balance in cycling is very delicate. Although it may seem that riders can eat everything they see, in reality this is not true \u2013 their food intake is also limited, so the distribution of energy between days is crucial for success.\u201d<\/p>\n Heat adaptation slots into the same picture. For Pogacar, Podlogar believes it has been quietly decisive. \u201cIn the heat, carbohydrate needs are higher because certain enzymes work faster and the relative effort is higher. Even if absorption appears similar to normal conditions, the effectiveness of ingested carbohydrates in the heat is slightly lower, which Tadej Pogacar complained about at the 2023 Tour. The best preparation for heat is heat acclimation, which mitigates most of the negative effects.”<\/p>\n \u201cIf I am correctly informed, this is also one of the things Tadej has recently focused on \u2013 he began working systematically on heat adaptation, which allowed him to regain his dominance.\u201d<\/p>\n