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A full feast of cobblestone climbs and carbohydrate gels was served to the Tour of Flanders peloton this weekend, and most riders had their desired menu stuck on their stems.
Stem sticker nutrition plans spotted by Velo in the start paddock of De Ronde provide fascinating real-world insight into how the peloton fueled six hours of cobblestone chaos Sunday.
It was a multi-course gut-buster that involved thousands of calories of sugars, surprisingly small doses of caffeine, and some smart hydration strategies.
We’ve put on our nutrition-nerd lab-coat and deciphered a couple of the stickers found by Velo‘s roving photo ace Will Tracy while he patrolled the team busses Sunday morning in Antwerp.
Before we dig in — dental surgeons, look away now.
All photos: Will Tracy. You can check Will’s Tour of Flanders tech gallery here.
Q36.5: Big carbs for a big day
Not so long ago, team-produced stem stickers would focus on a race’s crucial climbs or cobbled sectors.
But with fueling strategies becoming more complex, many of cycling’s elite now overlay those notes with their own rider-specific sugar roadmap.
This schedule slapped onto the stem of a Q36.5 Scott gives one of the best insights into a Tour of Flanders feed strategy that we found (and could decode).
Unlike many in the peloton, this rider doesn’t care about where the bergs are — there are no kilometer markers to warn when the cruel cobbled climbs come.
Instead, it’s all about the feed zones and the fuel.
An educated guess suggests the three yellow gels symbolized for the start of the race represent the 30g carbohydrate packets produced by Q36.5’s nutrition partner Amacx.
The green gels — all eight of ‘em — are likely the high-power 40g “Turbo Gels” that Amacx markets as being “indispensable for intensive efforts.”
Nutrition brands are increasingly turning their attention to hyper-concentrated gel and drink offerings like these after the development of new formulations that allow riders to slam carbohydrate at twice the level they did just a decade ago.
On top of three regular and eight “Turbo” gels, this rider chose to have two caffeine gels, which pack a further 40g of carbohydrate and 100mg caffeine each.
Notably, the sticker suggests the final caffeine hit should be delivered around two hours of racing from the finish line. That may seem early, but studies point to the physiological effect of caffeine only reaching its peak after around 45 minutes.
The seven bottle symbols suggest this rider was aiming for more than 500ml fluid per hour for what was a mild but miserable six-hour slog around Flanders.
Those bottles will have contained salt-stabilizing electrolytes and almost certainly a bunch more carbohydrate — ‘coz you can never have too much carb, right?
Summary nutrition numbers
- 7 x Bottles: ~280g carb (assuming some are water, some are fully mixed Amacx “Turbo drink” at 80g carb per bottle)
- 3 x Standard gels: 90g carb
- 8 x Turbo gels: 240g carb
- 2 x Caffeine gels: 80g carb / 200mg caffeine
Total: ~690g carbohydrate (~2,800 calories) / 200mg caffeine.
We’re past the half-way mark @RondeVlaanderen and it’s time to grab some lunch from our trusty soigneurs.
A second race starts now pic.twitter.com/9noGe8ef69
— Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team (@Q36_5ProCycling) March 31, 2024
Assuming this rider finished around 10 minutes back from Mathieu van der Poel’s race-winning time of 6:05, his 690g carbohydrate total breaks down to around 110g carbs per hour.
That 100g+ intake is the new “gold standard” for elite endurance, and a number that becomes all-the more important in a day a fierce as the six-hour interval session of De Ronde.
Contrastingly, the 200mg caffeine total is short of the 3-6mg per kilo bodymass benchmark that’s proven to max-out the cognitive and performance gains provided by cycling’s favorite supplement. Those guidelines would have a 70kg rider consuming 210mg caffeine, minimum.
However, every athlete is different, and even coffee-mad cyclists can be super-sensitive to caffeine.
Plus, who knows how many cortados this guy quaffed on the team bus while he waited for the start of a wet and wild day at De Ronde.
Lotto-Dstny brings science to the strategy
![Lotto-Dstny Tour of Flanders](https://i0.wp.com/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Tour-of-Flanders-Ronde-van-Vlaanderen-Bike-Tech-3954-1.jpg?resize=788%2C525&ssl=1)
Here’s one from Lotto-Dstny, handily labelled up with the rider’s name – “Cedric”, i.e., Cedric Beullens.
Unlike almost every other team, it seems Lotto-Dstny maps out riders’ menus by time rather than distance – presumably to 100 percent ensure riders achieve their recommended hourly fueling needs.
Lotto-Dstny works closely with nutrition brand Precision Fuel & Hydration. The Belgian squad collaborated in the development of some the brand’s products, and makes use of the sport scientists at PF&H H.Q.
Resultantly, Beullens’ stem sticker likely follows a very scientifically scheduled structure, totally unique to him and based on his own sweat, sodium, and metabolic tests.
A total of four packets of energy chews filled Bullens’ belly in the first two hours of Sunday’s Tour of Flanders.
Solid and semi-solid fuel like chews and gums are typically taken early in a race so there’s no risk of riders fiddling with food packaging while the race-winning moves are being made. They also provide a slightly more satiating, slow-release option than gels.
From hour three onward, Beullens was faced with a steady onslaught of 30g carbohydrate gels — two caffeinated, seven non-caffeinated.
Like the Q36.5 rider above, the caffeinated options were timed toward the middle of the race to ensure time for the full ergogenic effect to slam home ahead of Flanders’ final blast into Oudenaarde.
And what of the color-coded bottle symbols?
Potentially white for water, pink for energy?
Many athletes prefer to “decouple” carbohydrate and hydration needs as far as possible, so that’s an option.
“Decoupling” is a method that helps athletes mitigate G.I. problems. It allows riders to independently dose electrolytes and energy without the two being tied into the “all-in-one” drink formulas that can complicate fueling equations.
The fact Beullens seems to have opted to use electrolyte capsules at hours four and five reinforces the theory he’s mostly keeping his sodium targets independent of his sugar goals.
Summary nutrition numbers:
- 2 x Energy drink bottles: ~ 160g carb (assuming use of Precision’s “carb only” drink, mixed at mid-strength)
- 4 x Chews: 120g carb
- 7 x Standard gels: 210g carb
- 2 x Caffeine gels: 60g carb / 200mg caffeine
Total: ~550g carbohydrate (~2,200 calories) / 200mg caffeine
The Oude Kwaremont
Pictures: PhotoNews pic.twitter.com/BBuNb1QHIM
— Lotto Dstny (@lotto_dstny) March 31, 2024
Bullens pressed stop on his Tour of Flanders with a finish time of 6:13. If the big Belgian aced his eating strategy, that means he chowed around 90g carbohydrate per hour.
Despite working out at a whopper 360 calories per hour, Beullens’ 90g quota is low compared to some riders – Van der Poel is among the many known to consume close to 120g carbohydrate per hour.
But still, it’s a solid 50 percent more than the 60g per hour benchmark of only a decade ago.
Here’s a selection more stem stickers from the Tour of Flanders:
![](https://i0.wp.com/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Tour-of-Flanders-Ronde-van-Vlaanderen-Bike-Tech-4006-1.jpg?resize=788%2C525&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Tour-of-Flanders-Ronde-van-Vlaanderen-Bike-Tech-4002-1.jpg?resize=788%2C525&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Tour-of-Flanders-Ronde-van-Vlaanderen-Bike-Tech-3943-1.jpg?resize=788%2C525&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Tour-of-Flanders-Ronde-van-Vlaanderen-Bike-Tech-3918-1.jpg?resize=788%2C525&ssl=1)
![Tour of Flanders Ronde van Vlaanderen Bike Tech](https://i0.wp.com/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Tour-of-Flanders-Ronde-van-Vlaanderen-Bike-Tech-4005.jpg?resize=788%2C525&ssl=1)
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