Fuelling Team Ineos with SiS

The Tour de France is well underway and Team Ineos, with Egan Bernal and Geraint Thomas, are expecting to be up there when the race reaches its climax in a couple of weeks. But fuelling for a three-week stage race where you're spending 4-6 hours in the saddle every day isn't an easy task. That's why Ineos work with Science in Sport to make sure that their riders are eating properly (and eating enough) to perform at their best. Here Ben Samuels, Performance Nutritionist from Science in Sport explains how the riders fuel for peak performance. 

For a number of seasons now, we’ve worked closely with Team Sky - now Team Ineos - to understand the goals and requirements of nutrition and Science in Sport products across the team. Nutrition plans for grand tours will be mapped out day-by-day and Team Ineos have three main goals for sport nutrition during a grand tour:

1 - Fuelling and recovery around each stage

2 - Driving optimal body composition

3 - Maintaining athlete health

With that in mind, here's a look at what it takes to fuel Team Ineos during a Grand Tour...

Fuelling

Pre-Stage: When it comes to breakfast, riders wouldn't have anything vastly different to a normal diet. Where it does vary is portion sizes and cabohydrate content. They determine that based on the day's stage, fuelling, and body composition goals. Breakfast will usually include eggs, rice, pancakes with jam, fruit juice and green tea with honey. Whey protein is also available to mix into smoothies. 

During the stage: Team Ineos riders will consume a high protein source early in a stage, either through an Protein 20 or Go Energy + protein bars. With the demands of stage racing and the amount of time spent in the saddle every day, riders need to take every opportunity to consume protein to maintain lean muscle mass. 

Energy: Energy intake on the bike is planned stage-by-stage. Flat stage fuelling targets are 30-60g of carbohydrate per hour, but on hilly or mountainous stages that increases to between 60-90g per hour. 

Riders will use a range of carbohydrate options to meet these targets, including rice-cakes, gels, energy bars and carbohydrate-electrolyte drinks. Solid food is often consumed during the lower intensity sections of a stage, then isotonic gels and Beta Fuel are used when the intensity rises - such as on key climbs. Caffeine is also used before high-intensity sections. 

Hydration

Pre-Stage: Riders will aim to start each stage hydrated by monitoring fluid intake throughout the Tour and using urine output markers. This usually means drinking 5-10ml of fluid per kilo of body mass in the 2-4hrs before the stage starts with that coming from fruit juice, shakes, green tea and electrolyte drinks. 

During: The volume of fluid taken on during a stage depends on stage conditions and sweat rate. Both sweat rate and sodium sweat concentrations will have been tested in the lab way before the race, so that the team can figure out individual hydration strategies for all the riders. This usually ends up being around 500ml per hour with additional fluids taken on as required. Depending on the needs of each bottle, these will vary between water, electrolytes and carbohydrate-electrolyte solutions. 

Recovery

When racing a Grand Tour riders will usually have around 18hrs between finishing a stage and starting the next day. Recovery nutrition becomes crucial in this window. Food and fluid will be provided to ensure complete recovery, and the main goals are glycogen replenishment through carb intake, protein to aid muscle repair and fluids to effectively rehydrate. 

As soon as they cross the finish line riders will have a REGO Rapid Recovery, which provides them with carbs, protein, electrolytes and fluid to kick-start the recovery process. Riders then have a recovery meal on the bus to the hotel, usually combining white rice and a lean protein source, some jelly sweets and fruit juices. 

Team dinner will be served later on, cooked by the Team Ineos chefs. Main dishes would comprise rice, pasta, chicken, fish, potatoes, vegetables and salads. Fruits, youghurt and flans would be avaiable for dessert. 

Athlete Health

Keeping riders healthy is a crucial element during a Grand Tour. Working in combination with the food provision from the Ineos chefs, riders will also have access to the SiS Athlete Health range. These will be prescribed accoring to individual riders' needs.