Differences in cycling are more and more often in the details. Jumbo-Visma is one of the teams that is trying to take a lead on the competition in the field of nutrition. Since last year, the Dutch top team has been working with the company Supersapiens to take another step in that area, but the international cycling union UCI shot down that idea just before the Tour start.
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Supersapiens has developed a plan that measures how an athlete’s blood sugar compares during exercise. And how to deliver the best performance by taking in energy at the right moments when your blood sugar level drops during a race. “We already worked with those specialists last year, but are still in the testing phase. At the moment we are still learning whether it can help us, without already attaching consequences to it. There is still a long way to go before we may start working with this,” said Merijn Zeeman, Jumbo-Visma’s sporting manager.
The Formula 1 side
Incidentally, Ineos Grenadiers and Qhubeka Assos, among others, are working on the same idea. During training, it is examined to what extent it can help. The hope was to also collect data in this Tour de France that could have been very valuable. The UCI banned it, because the association does not want cycling to go to Formula 1, where these kinds of innovations – in the eyes of the UCI – may be decisive.
“We would have liked to use it in the Tour”, Zeeman continues. “Purely to collect data, but it is now only allowed in training. It remains to be seen what the UCI will decide on this in the future.”
“Nutrition is very important in our team. We work together with Asker Jeukendrup and Martijn Redegeld, who are great in that area,” Zeeman continues. “We always try to build an advantage over the rest. If you knock it completely flat, the bottom line is that during exercise it is essential when you eat and drink. That is different for every individual. With one the tank empties faster than with the other. That is also different at height, and there are many answers that we do not yet have in that area. But if you can monitor exactly when it’s time to eat for each rider, that’s a huge leap forward.”
In this Tour, therefore, only other figures can be looked at, such as the two stage victories that Jumbo booked with Wout van Aert and Sepp Kuss. And then there’s Jonas Vingegaard, who is third in the general classification and hopes to hold on to this spot through Sunday.
The UCI banned the new nutrition plan out of fear that cycling would move too much towards Formula 1 with this. The cycling association thinks that such innovations ‘could be too decisive’.
Zeeman emphasized how much they are concerned at Jumbo-Visma with the timing of food and drinks during the race. “One rider’s tank empties faster than the other. That is also different for every rider on the flat and uphill, but that is very difficult to measure. We still have many unanswered questions. If you can monitor exactly when it’s time to eat for each rider, that’s a huge leap forward.”
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