sional cyclists often receive their new bottles
from the team director in the car behind the pack.
One or two riders of the team will go to the car
and bring bottles for the whole team. Also they
usually have the opportunity to get additional
bottles at the feeding zone (2–4 h into the race). At
these feeding zones the athletes will receive a
little bag containing one or two bottles of fluid
and some solid food in case they get hungry or
get an empty feeling in their stomach (Fig. 43.4).
Often riders will take the bottles and throw away
the solid food.
Recommendations for nutrition
during exercise
1 During intense exercise lasting 45 min or
more, a CHO solution should be ingested. This
may improve performance by reducing/delay-
ing fatigue.
2 Consume 60–70 g CHO · h–1 of exercise. This
can be optimally combined with fluid in quanti-
ties related to needs determined by environ-
mental conditions, individual sweat rate and
gastrointestinal tolerance.
3 During exercise of up to 30–45 min duration,
there appears to be little need to consume CHO.
4 The type of soluble CHO (glucose, sucrose,
glucose polymer, etc.) does not make much dif-
ference when ingested in low to moderate quan-
tities. Fructose and galactose are less effective.
5 Athletes should consume CHO beverages
throughout exercise, rather than only water early
in exercise followed by a CHO beverage late in
exercise.
6 Avoid drinks extremely high in CHO and/
or osmolality (>15–20% CHO) because fluid
delivery will be hampered and gastrointestinal
problems may occur.
7 Try to predict the fluid loss during endurance
events of more than 90 min. The amount of fluid
to be ingested should in principle equal the pre-
dicted fluid loss. In warm weather conditions
with low humidity, athletes have to drink more
and the drinks can be more dilute. In cold
weather conditions, athletes will drink only
small amounts and drinks have to be more
concentrated.
8 Large drink volumes stimulate gastric emp-
tying more than small volumes. Therefore,
it is recommended to ingest a fluid volume of 6–
8 ml · kg–1 body weight 3–5 min prior to the start
to ‘prime’ the stomach, followed by smaller
volumes (2–3 ml · kg–1 body weight) every
15–20 min.
9 The volume of fluid that athletes can ingest is
usually limited. Athletes should ‘learn’ to drink
during exercise. This aspect can be trained.cycling 569
Fig. 43.4Feeding zone where
bags with solid and liquid food
are given to the riders. Photo ©
Cor Vos.