The golden rule that all cyclists should know is not to try new nutrition strategies or supplements on race day.

In fact, there is nothing worse you can do than take previously untried supplements found in a race pack provided by a competition sponsor. You risk them causing stomach issues or discomfort mid-race, undoing all your preparation.

The advice is therefore to test everything you intend to use on race day: food, drinks and supplements, during your training.

Road cycling is a physically and mentally gruelling sport that requires athletes to push their bodies to the limit to perform at a high level.

Because of this, cyclists are constantly looking for ways to optimise their performance and reduce fatigue, including through the use of supplements and advanced nutritional strategies.

However, it is important to note that not all supplements are effective or necessary, and some could even be harmful. So how do you figure out which supplements and nutritional strategies are the most effective for your activity?

The straightforward answer is: talk to a pro, like a sports dietitian, who can give you tailored advice based on your individual needs.

Talking about Road Cycling

Road cycling is a sport that includes both individual and team-based events, everything from time trials and crits to long road races. These events vary in terms of distance, typically ranging from 10 to 250 km, and may be held as one-day races or stretched across several consecutive stages.

To excel at this sport, cyclists need to be in good physical condition, which means developing both aerobic and anaerobic capacity.

The former can be defined as your body’s ability to use oxygen efficiently to generate energy during physical exertion. This ability is crucial for endurance competitions, especially long road races.

Anaerobic capacity, on the other hand, is your body’s ability to produce energy without oxygen, which is essential for the short, high-intensity bursts that are typical of cycling, such as steep climbs, sprints, or the final push to the finish line.

For elite cyclists, most training happens on the road, over distances of between 400 and 1,000 kilometres a week. Even amateurs who train intensively might ride at least 300 kilometres a week.

To boost performance, cyclists often incorporate both high-altitude and interval training sessions into their routines. Indoor training, including sessions on rollers or in wind tunnels, may also be done in the event of heavy precipitation, freezing temperatures or other unfavourable environmental conditions (such as for amateurs, who are obliged to train after sunset in winter) or when specific training is needed, such as for high-intensity sprints, to simulate starts or train technique.

Other types of training, including strength and cross-training are used by cyclists, particularly by elite riders, but dedicated amateurs also benefit from them in the winter to prepare for the next race season.

A cyclist’s physical build and training approach will differ depending on their speciality (whether they’re a sprinter, climber or all-rounder) and their role within a team (e.g. domestique or team leader).

Physical characteristics vary depending on the type of cyclist (sprinter, climber, rouleur) and their role within the team (domestique, team leader).

Sprinters and time trialists generally have more developed muscle mass, which is essential for generating sustained power.

Climbers, on the other hand, focus on achieving a high power-to-weight ratio by maintaining extremely low levels of body fat: even a few hundred grams less can make a difference on steep climbs.

However, poorly managed weight loss can impair performance and increase the risk of injuries or illness.

In professional cycling, the ideal time to modify body composition is during the preparation phase, away from races, when energy intake can be more easily controlled.

For amateur cyclists, physical transformation often takes place in the summer, during the racing season, when outdoor training becomes more frequent and consistent.

Diet and Nutrition for Road Cycling

To fuel the long hours spent training in the saddle, road cyclists need a diet packed with both energy and essential nutrients.

Replenishing energy stores, repairing damaged tissues and adapting to training all start with getting enough carbohydrates, tailored to the intensity and volume of the workouts, and timing meals and snacks around physical efforts.

This becomes especially crucial when athletes are doing multiple sessions a day or going through periods of high-volume or high-intensity training.

Daily carbohydrate requirements vary depending on the type of athlete and their training load, ranging from about 4 to 7 grams per kilogram of body weight for dedicated amateurs, and often exceeding 8 grams per kilogram for professionals. Meeting those numbers through diet alone can be a challenge.

Including frequent carbohydrate-rich meals and snacks throughout the day helps to meet daily energy needs, while ensuring protein-rich foods, from breakfast through to dinner, but also in some cases as a pre-bedtime snack, will promote recovery and adaptation to training.

Post-exercise snacks should be rich in nutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, micronutrients), easy to digest and often based on a combination of carbohydrate-rich foods, such as fruit and whole-grain cereals, and protein foods such as dairy products.

When daily demands are high and there is little time to eat suitable meals (think of an athlete on the move or an amateur leaving work and going to training afterwards), supplements such as protein-energy bars are a practical and economical means of meeting the athlete's practical needs.

Hydration for road cycling

Cyclists should make up for fluid loss by adjusting how much they drink based on factors like altitude, temperature, wind, how much they sweat, and the intensity and length of their training.

The first goal is to show up to every training session or race already well hydrated. That means drinking consistently throughout the day, starting at least the day before.

It is not enough, therefore, to only pay attention to hydration on race day. Effective hydration involves balancing fluids and salts. For example, drinking a lot of low-mineral, commercially available water without eating anything salty, like crackers or bread, or a well-seasoned meal, such as post-workout serving of rice, chicken and vegetables without added salt, won’t do much to rehydrate you, no matter how many fluids you take in.

In fact, without common table salt, often avoided by some athletes, these fluids are unlikely to be “retained” by our bodies.

During training or competition, the goal is not to replace every drop of fluid lost, but to keep weight loss from dehydration under 2% of body weight.

For example, a 70 kg athlete should not lose more than 1.4 kg during a race or training session to avoid the risk of reducing performance and raising the risk of injury.

After the effort, the focus shifts to replacing 150% of the fluids lost within 4 to 6 hours of the training session or race.

Following the same example as above, an athlete who weighs 70 kg and drops 1 kg during training, should rehydrate in the following hours with 1.5 litres of fluids, such as water, accompanied by savoury foods and/or salty drinks.

To stay properly hydrated throughout the day, just drinking low-mineral water isn’t enough. For your body to “retain” that fluid, you need to pair it with the “table salt” found in Hydrate Fast, which offers a convenient option for staying hydrated around workouts or during exercise, or in common savoury snacks like crackers or bread.

Having a post-workout meal like rice, chicken and vegetables without adding any salt won’t do much for rehydration, no matter how much water you drink alongside it.

Sports drink mixes not only help with hydration, but they also provide a source of carbohydrates, which are especially useful during longer training sessions or races, particularly in hot and humid conditions.

What to Eat Before a Race

The body only has a limited amount of carbohydrates stored in the muscles and liver in the form of glycogen. As carbohydrates are the body's main source of energy, during high-intensity exercise and in the 24-36 hours before a competition, glycogen stores should be maximised (the so-called “glycogen load”) to ensure performance.

Depending on how long the race is, a cyclist might need to follow high-carb diet for a day or two beforehand.

To avoid stomach issues in the 12 to 24 hours leading up to the race, especially with the extra food and carbohydrates, it is a good idea to cut back on fibre and go for energy-dense foods and drinks that are high in carbohydrates but low in fibre.

On race day, if practical and convenient, the pre-race meal should be eaten about 3 to 4 hours before the start.

If the race starts at 8:00 a.m., waking an athlete at 4:00 or 5:00 a.m. for a full meal can backfire, since it cuts into valuable pre-race sleep.

Instead, the final meal before the event should focus on easy-to-digest, high-carb, low-fat and low-fibre options to ease digestion and avoid stressing the stomach, think rice with honey, or toast with a bit of butter and honey, plus a sweetened tea.

In the hour leading up to the race, athletes often top off their carbohydrate stores with energy bars like Energy Race Bar, which are handy both before and during the race.

If athletes have difficulty digesting solid foods, liquid carbohydrate drinks such as smoothies made from rice milk or appropriate supplements such as Race Carb may be useful.

What to eat and drink during a race

Cyclists should endeavour to start races well-hydrated. Dehydration during a race, especially from sweat loss, can have a negative impact on both physical and mental performance.

In road races, sipping fluids regularly helps keep hydration levels in check. During crits and time trials, cyclists usually skip carrying bottles to keep their bikes as light as possible. This makes pre-race hydration even more critical, particularly in hot and humid environmental conditions.

Water is the perfect drink for short workouts, but in longer races, or any event held in hot or humid conditions, sports drinks with electrolytes and carbohydrates help meet both energy and hydro-electrolytic needs at the same time.

How many carbohydrates you need during a race depends on the distance and duration.

In short, high-intensity races, it is difficult to eat or drink while riding, in which case, even just rinsing your mouth with a carb-rich drink (mouth rinse) can be beneficial for performance.

For longer competitions (over 90 minutes), it is advisable to take in at least 30 to 60 g of carbohydrates per hour to prevent muscle fatigue, maintain an adequate power output on the pedals and avoid affecting mental clarity.

When a race lasts longer than three hours or is run at a high pace, increasing carbohydrate intake to 90–100 grams per hour can offer extra benefits.

It is however crucial to use the right mix of carbs, such as the combination of glucose and maltodextrins found in Race Carb Gel, or glucose, maltodextrins and trehalose, in Ultrarace Carb, which should be tried during training first to avoid any gastrointestinal issues on race day.

Like the rest of the body, the digestive system also needs to gradually adjust to processing larger amounts of carbohydrates. This adaptation process is similar to what happens in the musculoskeletal system when you increase your running distance or pedalling speed.

In both cases, the body needs to learn how to handle the extra workload and make better use of its energy reserves.

During competitions, a variety of foods and drinks can be consumed, including bananas, energy bars, gels, sports sweets, fruit pastries, jam sandwiches, pitted dates and sports drinks.

Recovering after a Race

Recovery is a vital part of helping the body adapt to the physical demands of training and competition.

Recovery meals and snacks should be formulated to provide the necessary nutrients to restore energy, repair muscle tissue and replace fluids and electrolytes lost through sweat.

A well-balanced recovery meal should include:

- Complex carbohydrates, such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables;

- High-quality protein, like lean meats, fish, eggs or dairy products;

- Fluids and electrolytes, provided by water, sports drinks or fruit smoothies.

When energy needs are high and recovery time between training sessions (for people who train every daily or twice a day) or competitions (such as in multi-stage events) are short, or when appetite is low and digestion is sensitive after intense activity, the ideal first recovery meal will not be a solid meal but a liquid one, formulated at least partly on the use of supplements.

A good example is a product that provides carbohydrates, protein and essential minerals all at once, such as Recovery Pro. Another approach is to enhance energy shakes made from ingredients like fruit and rice milk with high-quality protein, such as Dual Protein.

Practical tips

Based on general dietary guidelines for cyclists, here are three final tips:

1. experiment: with different nutritional strategies based on the demands you will be facing.

For longer training sessions or competitions, try combinations of gels, bars and sports drinks, while for shorter, less intense daily rides, simpler options like rice pudding and a juice bar drink during a midweek break in training may be more suitable;

2. test everything in training first: there are different possible dietary strategies (some people prefer only gels, others bars, and some a mix of both), but they must all be tested during training before being used in a competition, to ensure the best possible choice and avoid unpleasant consequences;

3. turn to supplements if needed: certain ones, especially caffeine-based options like those found in Race Carb Caf and Race Carb Caf Gel, can help sharpen mental focus and reaction time, delay the onset of fatigue during long efforts, and keep you mentally alert.

It is important to remember to seek help from a sports dietitian, especially to avoid unintentional intake, which can have unpleasant consequences on performance as well as health (such as shakiness, a racing heart, restlessness or even trouble sleeping).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brooke NK, Cosio-Lima L. Nutrition in Cycling. Phys Med Rehabil Clin N Am. 2022 Feb;33(1):159-172.

Burke LM. Nutritional approaches to counter performance constraints in high-level sports competition. Exp Physiol. 2021 Dec;106(12):2304-2323.

Jeukendrup AE. Training the Gut for Athletes. Sports Med. 2017 Mar;47(Suppl 1):101-110.