'They just need to put it in their mouth' – simplicity is key to Visma-Lease a Bike's Tour de France nutrition plan

As many as 2,500 gels and bars will be consumed by the riders of Visma-Lease a Bike across the Tour de France – three items an hour for every day of racing, whatever the situation. With things lost, thrown away, or missed, that could be over 4,000 items for the French Grand Tour.

"Everything eaten or drunk is planned or calculated," Martijn Redegeld, the head of Performance Nutrition Program at Amacx Sports Nutrition, tells Cycling Weekly the week before the Tour begins. "Each rider starts each stage with an individual goal. The goal is mainly the amount of carbs and fluid that they have to take per hour. Some prefer to have gels, or bars, while others prefer to have a combination.

"For a lot of stages, it is 120g an hour, but on simpler days, it might be 90g per hour. It’s always three things an hour, though, that’s the simple philosophy we work with. They just need to put it in their mouth, basically."

Gone are the 'proper food' with racing "full gas" as Redegeld notes, throughout some races these days: "Riders do not even think about enjoying a rice cake or enjoying a little sandwich, for example, they they see basically only one way to get in the energy, and that's gels."

This is part of on-the-bike nutrition, on simpler days it can still be proper food, and off-the-bike, riders follow strict nutrition plans with chefs producing detailed menus for each rider.

Given they have to take on so many energy products, how they taste is key. "Quite a lot of the feedback we get is related to flavour," Redegeld says. "I mean these guys have to consume it, let’s say, 300 days a year. Flavour is very important to them, and we come up with a new flavour to keep it interesting. Most of the guys like the citrus one, it’s pretty neutral, especially when it's hot, it feels a bit fresh."

Also key is making sure that riders can actually take on three gels an hour in such testing circumstances: "We have good formulas of the right ingredients, but riders still need to train their guts to be able to take onboard the carbs in pretty hard exercise. The gut is very trainable, just like any muscle."

The Dutchman worked for Visma-Lease a Bike before he moved to football with Ajax at the end of last year, but still keeps his toe in the world of bikes. Things have radically changed in the time he has been in sports nutrition.

"When I started in cycling, let’s say 10 years ago, 90g per hour was already too high for many riders, but we’re keeping up with the science now," Redegeld says. "Convincing riders that 120g per hour is important for them has been one of the biggest challenges over the past year. As soon as the riders see their competitors are doing this stuff and it’s working well, then everyone wants to do the same thing, or even more.

"At some point, we had to shift from convincing riders to eat more to slowing them down a bit."

The ceiling appears to be 120g, so the marginal gains are now in finding formulas that work best and sit well in the stomach, as well as products that are easy to open and consume. Many of us will have had a frustrating time ripping off the top of a gel produced from a sweaty jersey pocket; now imagine that at 40km/h at the Tour de France.

Redegeld is keen, however, to warn ordinary cyclists off from immediately copying the best cyclists in the world.

"Start with the basics, because that’s something that amateurs seem to overlook," he stresses. "You don’t want to go to all the fancy supplements to start with, but just be aware of carb targets during Sunday morning rides. Start with a plan, be aware of eating something every half hour or hour, and eat and drink regularly.

"That could be gels and bars, or it could be a banana or a sandwich. Make sure you train your gut if you want to use products for big events, too."

For Jonas Vingegaard, Wout van Aert and the rest of Visma, however, they had better get used to the taste of citrus over the next three weeks. They'll need it.