Beating the ‘bonk’: How riders do it

With riders burning up to 10,000 calories per day on the Tour de France as the race heads into the Alps this weekend, the right fuel is essential to avoid the dreaded ‘bonk’.

With riders burning up to 10,000 calories per day on the Tour de France as the race heads into the Alps this weekend, the right fuel is essential to avoid the dreaded ‘bonk’.

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It’s the equivalent of marathon runners ‘hitting the wall’, when a lack of glycogen in their muscles results in severe fatigue.

The lack of power caused by a lack of food happened to Alberto Contador, a favourite to win this year’s Tour, in March during the seventh stage of the Paris-Nice race.

“At 15km to go, my body was completely empty,” remembers Contador whose ‘bonk’ cost him his minute-long lead and eventually lost him the race.

For Tour team Cervelo, who have 2008 Tour winner Carlos Sastre as their leader, nutritionist Rob Child keeps an eye on his athletes’ diets to ensure the riders reach their peak on the mountain stages.

Having worked with a wide range of athletes, including Britain’s 2003 world champion swimmer Katy Sexton and Sydney 2000 Olympic gold medal-winning boxer Audley Harrison, Child is on his third major race with Cervelo.

“If a stage has three big climbs, we’d expect riders to burn off anything between 8,000 to 10,000 calories per day,” said Child.

“But if you sit in the peloton all day with a heart rate of around 120 beats per minute, you may only burn off 300 calories per hour.

“So of course it depends greatly on the the stage and the rider.”

The battle to load up with enough calories begins hours before the race start, when riders tackle mountains of pasta,
cereals, eggs, rice and other energy-providing carbohydrates in varying quantities.

Seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong has been known to tuck into rice and eggs, while Child says Cervelo’s chef Willy Balmat — who has cooked for Armstrong — specialises in omlettes and porridge packed with fruit and nuts.

“A lot of eating on Tour has a long tradition. For example, the chef may not be able to tell you why porridge is good for the riders, but the science behind the tradition is solid enough,” he said.

In the last few hours before the stage’s start, Child tests the riders’ urine to make sure they are hydrated enough and electrolyte drinks, rich in minerals to counter the effects of sweating, are handed out.

When the racing begins each stage has a feeding section when riders are handed ‘musettes’ — bags full of fuel in the shape of small sandwiches, protein bars, gels, caffeine gels and bananas — which the riders eat in the saddle.

The evening meal is when most riders prefer to load up on carbohydrates, but, surprisingly, alchohol is on the menu.

“There is nothing wrong with a little wine and I don’t think a regimented regime helps, if you are too hard on them they might go off the rails,” says Child.