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8 Performance Science Takeaways From The Men’s Tour de France

The tour de france is the world’s best field experiment for endurance performance. what did we learn in 2022.

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Cycling is the greatest endurance experiment. Millions of people hop on bikes as kids. A few hundred thousand might start pushing themselves harder and harder. Tens of thousands of those athletes might notice that they have an elite talent to put sustained power into the pedals. Thousands become professional racers. Just under 200 start the Tour de France.

That funnel to the highest level of sport is not unique to cycling. But what sets cycling apart is what happens to distill thousands of world-class athletes into the final 200. Those thousands have already proven their talent and their work ethic. And then they are all thrown into the meat grinder of professional cycling training.

We’re talking 25-30+ hours a week, most of the year, with tons of racing. Unlike running, they are not limited by impact and rarely limited by overuse injuries. Unlike triathlon, they don’t have to balance multiple movement patterns with different demands. Unlike swimming and skiing, form doesn’t play a huge role. Hulk smash pedal, multiplied by something approaching infinity.

So at the men’s and women’s Tours de France, we’re seeing the best of the best at the very limits of human physiology’s capabilities. You can see why doping is a huge issue, since everyone trains wildly hard (within a few percent), and the talent differences are marginal at the top level (within a few percent). You don’t need to be a nihilist or an asshole to become a skeptic, you just need to have a cursory understanding of statistics and history. 

If you take any random sample of the best in the world, pushing themselves to the maximum, and assume a few are doping, it’s likely that at least some of the champions will be doping unless drug testing catches everyone and/or doping is less powerful than marginal differences in talent/training.

All that said, I am still a massive cycling fan. Life is too short to be governed by skepticism or statistics (I prefer a cocktail of hope and belief that has hints of naive optimism). And whether PEDs (performance-enhancing drugs) are prevalent or not (most insiders say not, but they always say that out in the open air), there is still so much to learn from the pointy end of what happens when elite physiology gets stuffed into the meat grinder.

These eight takeaways are lessons that my co-coach/wife Megan and I flagged while watching the 2022 Men’s Tour de France ( we talk about it more on our podcast ). Because we are not bike coaches and we have that nagging fear of doping, we tried to focus less on the stated justifications for riders pushing pants-crappingly high watts per kilogram, and more on patterns across the peloton and performance psychology. Let’s do this!

One: You don’t need to have a “win at all costs” mentality to be a champion.

Jonas Vingegaard won this year’s race with a story made for Disney. In 2018, he worked part-time in a fish-packing plant (a plant where they put adorable backpacks on consenting salmon). On a training trip in Spain with his continental team (the minor leagues of European cycling), he set a Strava record on a 13-minute climb. World Tour team Jumbo Visma got wind of the record, and they did some quick calculations to estimate that Jonas pushed 6.7 watts per kilogram for the segment. That would be like a runner averaging around 4:15 minutes per mile grade-adjusted pace on a similar climb. The team signed him within a few months.

For me, there were two enduring moments from this year’s Tour. The first was in stage 19, when race favorite and 2-time defending champion Tadej Pogačar crashed as he was trying to drop Vingegaard on a descent. Vingegaard sat up and waited for Pogačar to get back on his bike and catch up. When they reunited, they grabbed hands. We were just a steady rain and a little tongue away from The Notebook 2.

Then on the Stage 20 time trial, Vingegaard was close to the fastest time ahead of teammate Wout Van Aert. With the yellow jersey fully secured, in the final 500 meters, he visibly stepped off the gas, ensuring his teammate would win. Van Aert stepped toward the finish line and gave Jonas a slap on the back before bursting into joyous tears.

Some Tour champions of the past were worshipped as bosses who dripped toxic masculinity along with EPO. I think that many assumed that their take-no-prisoners, show-no-love approach was part of the reason for their successes. Vingegaard and Pogačar both showed throughout this Tour that you can be kind and be a champion. Maybe in the future, we shouldn’t excuse athletes for being assholes just because they end up on top of a podium.

Two: What appears to be an endurance limitation can sometimes be a fueling limitation.

The conventional wisdom starting this year’s Tour was that Pogačar was invincible. If NASA needs to get back to the moon, they could do away with the rockets and just have Tadej time his glute engagement just right. And the first 10 stages confirmed that wisdom–he not only won different styles of stages, he seemed to do it with ease.

The turning point of the Tour was Stage 11, when Vingegaard broke away from Pogačar on the final climb. It was shocking! At the bottom of that final climb, Pogačar flashed that movie star smile and looked ready to make one giant clench for mankind. Over the next few days, he confirmed the speculation on the cycling message boards. It was a “hunger flat,” or a bonk, caused by underfueling.

RELATED: 6 Inspirational (Or Not) Quotes From The Tour De France Announcers

According to online estimates, he still pushed 5+ watts per kilogram after he was dropped, but Vingegaard was up in the mid-6s! You can’t put out massive power without massive power reserves , and in a moment that determined the outcome of the Tour, Pogačar’s fueling was not adequate. All the fitness in the world won’t mean much without mid-event fueling to match. Many riders are now taking in 90-120 grams of carbs per hour on intense stages, backed up by scientific studies on cyclists ( 2011 review in the Journal of Sport Science ) and runners ( 2021 study in Frontiers of Physiology ). And let’s not even get started with ketone supplementation .

Three: Avoiding spikes in output can conserve glycogen stores and prevent excess fatigue.

While that Stage 11 drop-heard-round-the-world decided the Tour, the most dramatic part of the race happened earlier on the same day. At the base of the majestic Col du Galibier climb, Vingegaard’s teammate Primož Roglič attacked. Pogačar responded. Then Vingegaard attacked. Pogačar responded. Every time Pogačar got back into the draft, he’d be attacked again. Whoever wasn’t attacking sat on Pogačar’s wheel, meaning that they were doing significantly less effort.

This offset may have determined the hunger flat on the final climb. Every time Pogačar shot up toward 1000 watts, his body rapidly depleted glycogen from leg muscles, replenishing that from overall stores and whatever calories he could throw into the full-gas incinerator. He was exceeding his critical power (think an effort an athlete can sustain for 30-40 minutes) so often that he needed to do absolutely everything right on the rest of the stage–and be stronger than Vingegaard. Everyone assumed that Vingegaard needed a miracle, when all he needed was 90% science and 10% luck.

Four: Just because you can play through pain doesn’t mean you should play through pain.

Roglič played a huge part in Vingegaard’s win with those faux attacks. Pogačar respected Roglič as a rival for the overall win, so he responded to each one when it would have been a wiser physiological move to let Roglič tire himself out off the front. It was a two-wheeled version of Muhammad Ali’s rope-a-dope. And the whole time, Roglič must have been in excruciating pain.

He dropped out of the race after Stage 14. Commentators ripped him to shreds. “Get to the finish for your team!” some screamed. A few days later, it came out that Roglič had been riding with two fractured vertebrae in his back after a crash on Stage 5. How did he ride up and down those mountains so fast with a broken back? The simple answer is that cyclists are insane in the membrane. The complex answer is that athletes can tell themselves that toughness is a virtue of devotion. But when the mask of race-day toughness is removed, they may find out that what looked like devotion is actually self-destruction.

Yes, what Roglič did showed courage, and that courage should be celebrated. But we should be careful about elevating courage over health. We’ll see how his season unfolds from here. Hopefully a couple weeks of courage doesn’t contribute to a couple years of health struggles.

Five: Cooling strategies are key even before it gets hot.

What do the world’s best runners and world’s best cyclists have in common? Fashion! Namely, ice vest chic. Before and after almost every stage, you could spot these stars in ice vests to lower core temperature just like they were at the Foresthill Aid Station of the Western States 100 . And during stages, they were never far from ice packs to put on the back of their necks, and water to douse themselves with. I cringed every time they sprayed themselves, worried that their chains would get rusty if they forgot to clean their bikes post-stage. THINK ABOUT YOUR CHAINS, MEN!

Three weeks of the hardest racing in the world can spur physiological supercompensation. But even more than that, three weeks of vulnerability can spur psychological growth that shifts the understanding of what is possible.

My favorite innovation was from Team Ineos, long known as the team that leverages every exercise science study to its advantage. Prior to the final time trial, Geraint Thomas had his hands in “cooling mitts.” Some research (e.g., 2018 study in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine ) shows that one of the most effective ways to lower core temperature is via the hands and lower wrists, so Thomas was keeping his paws nice and frosty. 

Coming to an aid station near you: ICE GLOVES. We’re going to be like Curley in Of Mice And Men, keeping our hands soft and cold for performance. That reference is for 5 readers at most. To them, I say, knowing wink .

Six: Tech giveth, and tech taketh away.

In the final time trial, top contender Stefan Bissegger’s bike erroneously went into “crash mode,” preventing shifting. That’s also what I call it when I run down technical trails. He had to change bikes, and his new bike didn’t have a water bottle, leading him to limp to a tough finish. 

I am sure crash mode has a number of benefits. But it demonstrates how tech advances also come with sometimes unforeseen, often low-probability risks that need to be considered. For example, in running, I am concerned about how the proliferation of carbon-plated shoes may impact foot, achilles, and ankle injuries given changing impact forces . Yeah, they may be fast. However, it’s hard to be fast in a walking boot. 

Seven: Drafting is important even at slower cycling speeds (and faster running speeds).

Every year in the mountains, it’s a battle for the best slipstream. If Pogačar couldn’t ride Vingegaard off his wheel with an attack, he sat up and waited for another opportunity. And they both had American teammates that dictated the pace on some of the steepest climbs (Brandon McNulty for Pogačar, Sepp Kuss for Vingegaard). All cyclists know the value of the draft. But for some reason, we barely think about it in running.

True, running is much slower. But on some of these steep climbs, Pogačar and Vingegaard are going slower than fast runners (you’ll often see normal people run right beside them for a bit). So what gives?

I think runners might just be missing a major opportunity. A July 2022 study in the Journal Of Applied Physiology found that in a 2-hour marathon, drafting can save between 3:42 and 5:29! Those numbers will be much less at slower paces, but no matter what the exact benefit, it can be magnified around physiological thresholds. Even if the draft effect is a fraction of a percent, when an athlete is at the margins of their capabilities, that fraction could be the difference between bonking and finishing strong. 

Eight: Output under 1 hour strongly correlates with output over 21 days.

I think that we sometimes complicate ultra training in particular, creating entirely different frameworks to excel in long trail events. But as the Tour shows, in terms of our aerobic output, speed is speed . Or to put it another way, critical power and/or lactate threshold (output on efforts between ~30 minutes and 1 hour) will correlate strongly with performance at longer distances.

In the final time trial, the winner was Van Aert, who may be the star of the entire Tour. Even though he wasn’t going for overall place, he won a few stages and was voted the most aggressive rider. 2-3-4 in the ~50-minute time trial were 1-2-3 in the whole race (Vingegaard, Pogačar, Thomas). That makes sense with what we know about physiology–combine a formula for maximal aerobic power with equations for fatigue resistance, and you can get pretty close to predicting who has the most potential in longer events. 

RELATED: How Sport Sampling Can Unlock Your Running Potential 

Fatigue resistance studies have been pioneered in cycling, showing that what separates the best of the best from the thousands of elite athletes that don’t reach that level has to do with how their power curve deteriorates after a few thousand kilojoules of work. 

But the prerequisite for fatigue resistance to be the differentiating factor is that the power curve is close-to-optimized on the top end. A runner or cyclist that isn’t working on their speed is making an unreasonably heavy bet on their fatigue resistance. And over time, they will lose that bet relative to their genetic potential.

Big Takeaway

The 2022 Tour de France was one of the best races ever, and I couldn’t get enough of it. Reading rider reflections, a persistent theme stood out: doing the Tour changes you. Three weeks of the hardest racing in the world can spur physiological supercompensation. But even more than that, three weeks of vulnerability can spur psychological growth that shifts the understanding of what is possible.

Think back to your own history. When did you make yourself the most vulnerable, in situations where you may win, but way more likely you will be spit out of the back of the peloton? For me, my breakthrough as a writer came from writing a book. Long before that, I supercharged my toughness in the misery of football two-a-days. Between those moments, a summer doing the Trial of Miles made me realize that my endurance limits were far beyond what I assumed. 

That book I wrote was OK, but not great. I ended up quitting football as a freshman in college. As a runner, I’m finding new limitations every year. But I wouldn’t trade those experiences for anything because they shaped me as a person and athlete. My character was forged in discomfort, and that’s why I’m resilient.

Every Tour rider goes through that and more. Three weeks of discomfort, of doubts, of vulnerabilities. The rider that finishes (or DNFs) the Tour is different than the rider who started, and always will be. What’s your personal Tour de France? What’s the big, scary thing that makes your self-doubt scream so loud that you can’t hear Bob Roll in the announcer’s booth?

Whatever that thing is, attack it like you’re Tadej Pogačar. The point isn’t whether you win or not. The point is to get vulnerable and find out that your suitcase of courage is actually a warehouse, with so many more aisles to explore. 

David Roche partners with runners of all abilities through his coaching service, Some Work, All Play . With Megan Roche, M.D., he hosts the Some Work, All Play podcast on running (and other things), and you can find more of their work (AND PLAY) on their Patreon page starting at $5 a month.

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How to Train Like a Tour de France Cyclist

• By Marc Lindsay

While you might not be able to line up next to Chris Froome and Peter Sagan at this year's race, that doesn't mean you can't train like a pro. Whether it's rolling hills, crosswinds, sprint finishes or a Hors Categorie climb, to make it to the finish line in Paris, Tour de France riders have to be able to do it all. Include these three workouts that mimic the challenges of the famous race, so you can become a more well-rounded rider.

Saint Girons to Foix

Length: 100km Skills needed: Conquering steep gradients; Descending The stage: A new trend in pro cycling stage racing is the short mountain stage where anything can happen. While the Latrape, Cold d'Agnes and the Mur de Peguere aren't terribly long, they are some of the steepest gradients Tour riders will face. The final 3.3km of the Mur will feature gradients in the double digits, reaching into the 20-percent range on occasion. Even though this will undoubtedly be the biggest challenge, to reach the finish cyclists will need to stay sharp on the long 27km descent into Foix.

• You'll need plenty of power to tackle steep pitches. Since 20-percent gradients will require maximum effort, you'll need to include a few high-power output hill repeats into your weekly workouts.
• Find a hill that is at least one to two miles long. If you don't have any hills in your area, you can do this workout on an indoor trainer.
• To mimic the distance of the Mur de Peguere, which is about six miles, you'll need to complete four to six of these hill repeats depending on the length of the climb you're training on.
• If you're training with a power meter, the pace you'll want to begin the repeat with is threshold. If not, ride at a rate of perceived exertion (RPE) of about 8 or 9 out of 10.
• During each 1- to 2-mile interval, ride for 15 seconds as hard as you can (RPE-10/10) two times with a short recovery between each effort. Your two 15-second efforts will mimic those really steep 20-percent gradients you'll need to crest.
• Recover for one to two minutes in between each interval or the time it takes you to get back down to the bottom. Remember to practice your descending skills on the way down, since you'll need to be a good descender to reach the finish line first.

Briacon to Izoard

Length: 178km Skills needed: Ascending monster climbs The stage: There are only three summit finishes in this year's Tour, and this one on the 14.1km Izoard promises to be the most decisive. In addition to this Hors Catgorie climb, cyclists will also need to ascend the challenging Col de Vars beforehand, which is 9.3km at 7.5 percent gradient.

To get to the top of a really long climb, you'll need to find your sweet spot. This means maintaining a consistent effort for a fairly long duration. Pacing is key so you have enough energy to reach the top.

• If you're using a power meter, these efforts should be just below your functional threshold power or FTP. If you're using RPE to gauge your effort, you should ride these intervals at about a 7/10. This means continuous conversation should be difficult but you can still talk throughout these efforts.
• Begin with a 15-minute warm up, spinning easy at a cadence higher than 90 revolutions per minute.
• Complete three sets of 20-minute sweet spot intervals. If you have a long gradual climb near you that takes 20 minutes to get to the top, consider yourself lucky. If not, try these on an indoor trainer with your front wheel raised.
• During each of your three intervals, stand out of the saddle and sprint for 5 to 10 seconds every 3 to 4 minutes. This will help you deal with any gradient changes on the course.
• In between each interval, recover with 15 minutes of easy spinning.
• Cool down for 10 minutes in a high cadence.

Marseille Time Trial

Length: 23km Skills needed: Sustained power The stage: This short, individual time trial will take place in Marseille for the first time in the Tour's history. The course is flat except for one lone climb up the Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde cathedral.

While you can expect most Tour riders to be well under the 30-minute mark, this effort will probably take you at least 35 minutes if you're in good shape. The duration of your time trial intervals should be slightly more than this amount of time.

• Do these intervals on a flat road where you won't have to stop very often. You can also do these on an indoor trainer. If possible, try to do one of the four interval sets below on a moderate climb or by raising your front wheel on the indoor trainer.
• Begin with a 15- to 20-minute warm up, spinning easy.
• For the main set, complete three to four 12-minute intervals at race pace with 3 minutes of easy spinning in between each interval. If you're using a power meter, these efforts should be at or just above lactate threshold. If you're using RPE, your effort should be in the 8/10 range. Try to keep your effort level as even as possible for each interval.
• Cool down with 15 to 20 minutes of easy spinning.

Next Gallery

The 7 Wildest Tour de France Stories You'll Never Believe

About the Author

Marc lindsay.

Marc writes gear reviews, training, and injury prevention articles for Active.com. He is also a contributor to LAVA Magazine, Competitor Magazine, and Gear Patrol.com. He is a certified Physical Therapy Assistant (PTA) and earned his M.A. in Writing from Portland State University. Marc resides in Scottsdale, Arizona.

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Getting Ready for the Tour de France

How do the pros prepare for one of the hardest races in cycling? The 109 th edition of the Tour de France is just around the corner and professional riders are putting the finishing touches on their year long journey to the pinnacle of cycling. What do they train in each of the distinct training stages leading up to the Tour? Let’s take a closer look.

Tour de France 2022

This year’s Tour will span 3328 km inside the classic 21 days of racing. There will be 6 mountain stages, 2 individual time-trials, and plenty of flat stages for breakaways and exciting sprint finishes. Stage 7 will be the longest with 220 km while stage 11 will take riders to the highest point at the top of Col du Galibier, a breath taking 2607 metres above sea level. If last year is anything to go by, then the winner will be expected to maintain an average speed of 41,17 kilometres per hour over nearly 83 hours of racing. It’s clear that every competitor will have to be in the shape of their life.

😍Ahead of the #TDF2022 Grand Départ from Denmark, @Letour is meeting the "golden generation" of Danish cycling Today: 🇩🇰 @Mads_Pedersen ⤵ pic.twitter.com/F6tVUkcEHj — Tour de France™ (@LeTour) June 22, 2022

It takes the whole season

Competing at the Tour de France is the highlight of every cyclist’s season, if not their whole career. That’s why most pros plan their season with the main goal to peak just as the Tour kicks off. The preparation often starts around 7 months before the Tour and includes several training macro-cycles. They will be building an aerobic base, adding high-intensity, doing race-specific training, and tapering. Let’s take a closer look at each of these training stages.

Building a base

The Tour is set to start on the 1 st of July which means that most rider initiated their base-building phase late November or early December of last year. Their main focus is on long, low-intensity rides to build up the basic aerobic endurance required. It also includes some flexibility and strength training on top of that. The riders typically do something like 20-30 hours of training each week.

Adding intensity

Come February, or about 5 months before the start of the Tour, cyclists start adding more tempo, sub-threshold, and threshold rides. Threshold tempo is the hardest effort that you can sustain for an hour which means they will be spending more and more time at high intensity. This training phase is also where they start working on their nutrition on and off the bike. They need to get used to consuming a lot of food on the bike. Their digestion needs to be conditioned to handle up to 90 g of carbs per hour while cycling.

This is also the time when the pros start to peak with their body weight. They start early because steady weight loss is the best way to avoid sacrificing performance. There is a general rule of thumb that they shouldn’t lose more than 0,5 % of their bodyweight per week.

Race-specific training

Right around the beginning of April, Tour competitors will refocus on race-specific training. They will reduce their strength work and use actual races as some of their training. There is no substitute to racing. Certain skills can only be gained while amidst a race. The Ardennes Classics or the Giro D’Italia are often used for this purpose.

This is also the time when cyclists include training camps. These are typically 10-day training blocks of structured cycling where every day is planned out. Training camps often include altitude training and adapting to riding in the heat. The specific schedule depends on the type of rider. Climbers will spend more time in the mountains doing lots of long, steady climbs while others might work on high-intensity speedwork elsewhere.

Tapering means reducing training load to be fresh at the starting line. During this process riders will go from riding 5-6 hours a day to riding about 1 hour or not at all. About 2 weeks before the Tour, riders will start shortening their training blocks and adding ample rest in between. They would do their last long ride the weekend before the Tour. There might be a short speed workout mid-week to practice bursts of power and picking up pedalling cadence. They will also have a session on the time trial bikes during the last week.

They take recovery as seriously as training

A crucial part of getting ready for the Tour de France is recovery. It’s present in every phase of training and riders know that they can’t cut any corners there. Recovery is a continuous process that includes post-ride shakes, massages, stretches, and quality sleep. Especially sleep is what most professionals focus on as the bedrock of recovery. They go to bed and wake up at the same time, sleep in a cool and dark room, and avoid blue light an hour before sleep.

The riders give it a better part of a year to get ready for the Tour, let’s cheer them on as they compete for glory on this 21-stage Grand Tour!

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Pro Training: What Does it Take to Race the Tour de France?

, by Chris Case

We take a closer look at the demands of the most famous grand tour, and how the pros train for three weeks of intense racing.

For three weeks each July, we watch as the best bike racers in the world tear themselves apart for five-plus hours per day at the Tour de France .

Over 21 stages, nearly 200 incredible athletes race an event that would shatter most of us in just one day. But then they also have to contend with answering reporter’s questions, pleasing sponsors, transferring between hotels, trying to eat enough food to cover the day’s expenditures, and, finally—and perhaps most importantly—trying to get quality sleep.

It’s a feat that’s hard to comprehend. In this brief review, we’ll explore what it takes to race the Tour—physiologically and psychologically. We will look at the Tour from a numbers perspective—and describe why the numbers really don’t tell the tale. Then we’ll dive into how the riders train for the Tour before discussing what amateur riders should and shouldn’t take away from how Tour riders train.

Vive le Tour!

RELATED: The Beginner's Guide to the Tour de France

The tale of the Tour in numbers

Compared to what everyday cyclists do, the raw numbers of a Tour de France effort are staggering. Over the course of three weeks, riders will average around 100 hours of racing. And that doesn’t include anything extra that they might do: warming up, cooling down, or rest-day rides.

On a course that averages around 3,500 kilometers, Tour riders will expend about 5,000 to 7,000 calories per day, or over 120,000 calories over the three weeks. The true number depends on things like rider size, their role on the team, and so on.

Interestingly, when you look at the average power over the 21 stages, it can be as low as 170 watts for some light climbers who are in protected roles and who spend a lot of the time off the front of the peloton. It’s just that they will also need to produce those sudden moments of very high power outputs.

RELATED: Preview: An Unusual Tour de France Route

“It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a lot if you’re holding that for 110 hours,” says Ciaran O’Grady, a sport scientist and lead coach at Israel-Premier Tech professional cycling team. “It’s going to certainly add up in terms of physiological load. It’s absolutely astonishing what these guys go through over those 21 stages.”

According to O’Grady, 70 percent of the time the riders spend, on average, during the race is in zone 1 (in a three zone model). So it’s a prolonged sub-threshold pace. Above threshold? For most of the riders, it’s around 10 to 15 percent of the total time.

On a course that averages around 3,500 kilometers, Tour riders will expend about 5,000 to 7,000 calories per day, or over 120,000 calories over the three weeks.

“Again, it doesn’t sound like much on paper, but when you add it up over the course of 21 stages, it’s a fair old physiological whack,” O’Grady proclaims.

Training a Tour engine

The first thing to appreciate about riding the Tour is the sheer volume—over 100 hours of pedaling. So, one of the first training considerations is, no surprise, pure volume on the bike.

During the base phase of a pro rider’s training program, they will have months where the training load is 100 or more hours, to mimic the conditions of the race. Once they’ve built that ability to handle the volume, then they work on their ability to produce explosive, intense efforts.

RELATED: The 10 Hardest Climbs in Tour de France History

That said, most of the riders who race the Tour, or any grand tour, will have been a professional for several years. Their endurance engine is already very well developed. So the bulk of those 100 hours may have fairly low average power. When they do training blocks, they’ll strategically add intensity to that high volume.

“This is what I call dirty intervals: you go out and ride for three hours at tempo pace, burn maybe 2,500 to 3,000 kilojoules, and then start the intervals,” O’Grady says. “It’s all about making sure that the body is able to work when it is fatigued.”

After doing that day by day by day, with the proper recovery to allow for the adaptive process, you create the engine to perform in a grand tour environment, according to O’Grady. This assumes the athlete already has the genetic predisposition to do so.

A study that analyzed six years of training data from Pierre Rolland, a former Tour de France GC rider, confirms this approach.

In short, his five-second power, 30-second power, and one-minute power didn’t change much over the course of those six years, as he developed into a top-10 finisher at the Tour. However, his training volume over those six years increased 79 percent. The development was focused on the aerobic engine, and on the ability to resist fatigue.

FEELING INSPIRED? Build Back Stronger with a Cycling Overload Block

At the start of the six-year study, he managed to do only three big training blocks filled with extremely stressful, big volume, big intensity workouts. However, by the time he finished in the top 10 at the Tour de France, he was completing 11 of those training weeks in a year.

The focus was never about building huge power. It was much more about that ability to resist the grind.

For the mortals among us (that’s you!)

It goes without saying: these guys are professionals, so what they do is not usually what a recreational rider should do.

This [type of training] would probably set us mortals back more than it would drive us along. We’re just not able to assimilate those adaptations that are being made by the stresses.

“This [type of training] would probably set us mortals back more than it would drive us along,” O’Grady says. “We’re just not able to assimilate those adaptations that are being made by the stresses that we would be putting our body under.”

If you had a week off from work, you could do a huge amount of volume in that week . But then to make quality adaptations from that, it’s going to be extremely difficult without the proper recovery.

It’s always important to be mindful of your limitations. Don’t try to replicate the rides of the pros, particularly if you work full-time.

RELATED: Low Risk, High Reward: The Polarized Training Method for Cyclists

However, one aspect of their training is highly relevant. The so-called polarization of their training—spending most of the time at a relatively low intensity, and then doing very specific hard efforts only sparingly—leads to the biggest gains with the smallest risks.

This is the type of training you see time and time again from the bulk of the professional peloton. It takes time, it takes discipline, but if their efforts at the Tour are any indication, it works very well.

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Home » Features » How Do Tour de France Riders Train, Eat & Recover?

How Do Tour de France Riders Train, Eat & Recover?

The Tour de France is one of the world’s toughest, and certainly most iconic, endurance events, with over 180 elite riders covering 3,383km and tackling 30,000m of vertical ascent.

During the three-week race, which is divided into 21 stages across June and July, each rider will burn more than 140,000 calories.

This summer, Britain’s 2018 Tour winner Geraint Thomas is hunting his second victory with INEOS Grenadiers (formerly Team Sky), the all-conquering British team that has won seven of the last nine Tours.

But in order to get race-ready, the squad has endured months of hard training, backed up by smart nutritional plans and intelligent sports science.

Here INEOS Grenadiers’ coach Conor Taylor and nutritionist Javier Gonzalez reveal how the riders arrive at the start line in peak condition.

Team INEOS on a training ride before the Tour starts on 26 June

The importance of low-intensity exercise

To build an elite endurance engine, pro riders prioritise low- to moderate-intensity training.

“Around 75-85 per cent of our riders’ total training time is spent doing long, continuous, low- to moderate-intensity cycling,” explains Taylor.

“Only 20 per cent of their training is of a high-intensity nature. Those low-intensity rides are typically at 65-70 per cent of their maximal heart rate and can last four to seven hours.”

This high-volume, low-intensity approach triggers adaptations within the riders’ cardiovascular, metabolic and neuromuscular systems, which help them better endure longer rides.

“One of the primary adaptations is that our riders become more efficient,” explains Taylor. “At that intensity and volume, you’re predominantly using fat, instead of carbohydrate, as a fuel source.

“We’ve all got ample fat stores in the body, so we are just trying to train the body to utilise that fat, because carbohydrate can only be stored in relatively small quantities.

“A cyclist with high efficiency will always use less oxygen than a cyclist with poor efficiency, when they both cycle at the same given power output or speed.”  

Stick to real food

To fuel up for this huge volume of training, the riders take a ‘food-first’ approach, relying mainly on nutritious ‘real’ food, with supplements used sparingly. Breakfast is usually a protein-rich omelette with a portion of energy-dense rice.  

“The amount of carbohydrate in something like porridge is relatively low compared to rice,” explains Gonzalez.

During rides, the cyclists fuel up with homemade rice cakes flavoured with cream cheese or cinnamon.

“They are not the kind of crispy rice cakes you buy in shops, they are more like a solidified risotto,” explains Gonzalez. “Rice is very easy to digest and easy on the stomach.”  

A post-ride lunch is typically tuna steak with quinoa and tomato salad. And dinner might be salmon and rice with an Asian broccoli salad.

“During training periods the riders eat more veg, too, as the nutrients support health and immunity,” adds Gonzalez.  

Varied training forces positive adaptations

Riders begin their winter training in October and steadily accumulate volume as the weeks go by.

“It is very individual, but as a guide if you increase your weekly volume by ten per cent that is a good starting point to safely progress your training programme and ensure overload,” explains Taylor.

As the riders get closer to races, they start layering on higher-intensity work.

“You don’t need many high-intensity sessions to get the desired training effect,” he adds. “It’s about doing high-quality work to develop the power and speed that could enable a race-winning move.  

“A typical high-intensity session might be four lots of eight-minute efforts at 90 per cent HRM, with four minutes’ recovery. But we are constantly playing with the duration and the intensity and the recovery.

“One of the key training principles we work to is variation. We all adapt very quickly to a training stimulus, so you need a constantly novel stimulus to keep the body guessing.”

Watch the weight

Power to weight ratio is hugely important for endurance athletes, with Geraint Thomas stripping down from 74kg, when competing in the team pursuit on the track at the London 2012 Olympics, to 67kg when racing over mountains at the Tour de France.

But what is the optimal way to lose weight without compromising your training?  

“One of the key factors is slow and steady weight loss, and a general rule of thumb is 0.5 per cent of bodyweight per week as a maximum,” explains Gonzalez.

“So six months out before the Tour, we will start the rider ona nutrition plan to gradually achieve their optimal body composition at the Tour, rather than suddenly trying to achieve it two months before.”

The secret is to be good at food maths. “The great thing about cycling is we can quantify the energy our riders burn and consume,” says Gonzalez. “Of course, to lose weight, we need a small energy deficit, but you can track that relatively easily.”

Some riders weigh their food; others use the LIBRO app by Nutritics – a bit like MyFitnessPal – which helps them to track their daily calories, protein and sugar input to improve their body composition over time.  

Protein matters for endurance athletes, too

One of the challenges for endurance athletes is working out how to lose weight while maintaining lean muscle mass. The key is to drip-feed protein into your body.  

“Our riders are aiming for an even distribution of protein throughout the day,” explains Gonzalez. “Typically, that is 30g of protein at each eating occasion, for breakfast, lunch, dinner and for an extra snack. That helps the riders to retain muscle mass, even as they’re losing weight.

“But protein also facilitates the reconditioning of the muscles after training. Studies on endurance athletes show that protein helps the mitochondria – the parts of the muscle where the energyis generated – to better adapt to training.”  

Don’t neglect strength training

Endurance riders may be super lean, but they still lift weights.

“The use of resistance training at INEOS has grown,” explains Taylor. “It improves efficiency on the bike, it may improve bone mineral density, which can be low in non-load-bearing sports like cycling, and it can help with your maximal power output.”  

However, riders need to build raw strength without packing on unwanted bulk to carry around the mountains.

“Cycling can be seen as a weight-making sport, in a similar way to boxing,” says Taylor. The secret is to stick to low repetitions (3-6 reps), low volume (3-5 sets), and low frequency (2-3 sessions per week), but with maximal intent in each session.

“This helps to increase the rate of force development and power, but limits muscle hypertrophy to keep the riders light but powerful,” adds Taylor.

“The exercises mainly consist of single and double leg presses, split squats, glute bridges and lunge variations: so lateral, forward and reverse lunges.”

Incorporate spiked training sessions

“‘Spiked sessions’ – essentially undulations in power during training – create additional metabolic stress within the muscles that the body needs to deal with,” explains Taylor.

“As a result, they drive specific adaptations within the muscle and cardio-respiratory system that help to buffer and accelerate the clearance of this additional stress.”

These sessions can therefore help you to cope with any ‘spikes’ – or changes in pace and power – during races.

Spiked sessions can be completed in different ways.

“You can include spikes or sprints within your longer rides, such as 15-20-second maximal sprints every 20-30 minutes,” suggests Taylor.

“Or they can be included within a longer effort, such as short, out-of-the-saddle accelerations within a sustained seated effort. For example, performing five to ten-second accelerations every two minutes within a longer ten to 20-minute sustained, hard effort.”  

Take recovery as seriously as training

At the end of hard training days, riders recover quickly using a nutrition-first approach.

“Recovery involves a post-ride shake and a pre-prepared mini meal, which is usually rice, potatoes or pasta in a pot with some salmon or chicken,” says Gonzalez.

Although riders have massages and perform stretches, their main recovery protocol involves quality sleep.

“We provide them with as much good sleep hygiene advice as possible,” says Taylor. “Everything from going to bed and waking up at a set time, to trying to refrain from looking at bright lights and blue lights in the hour before bed.

“Massage balls and yoga can aid recovery, but for endurance athletes nothing beats a quality night’s sleep.”

A breakaway group tackles the ascent of Bisanne during the 2018 Tour de France | Photography: Jeff Pachoud

ANATOMY OF A TDF RIDER

• 60-67kg:  the average weight  
• 5-15%:  body fat percentage
• 70-90:  typical V02 max score
• 30-50:  resting heart rate
• 4,500-9500:  calories burned per day

Words: Mark Bailey

MF editor Isaac combines close to a decade’s experience in fitness publishing with a keen interest in all things exercise and sport. Although strength training is his primary passion, he's also an occasional ultramarathon runner, with one particular career high/lowlight being a 24-hour 'race' around Tooting Bec Athletics Track (never again).

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Fueling the tour de france: inside a grand tour rider’s gut-buster diet, we speak to worldtour chefs and nutritionists to reveal the mega-carb menus that power the race for the yellow jersey..

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What does it take to fuel three weeks of racing the Tour de France ?

Mountains of rice, fistfuls of energy gels, and plates pitifully short of vegetables, that’s what it takes.

The 21 stages of this year’s Tour de France could see riders like Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard pedal through up 80,000 calories-worth of work.

• From altitude camp to taper, how riders train for the Tour de France
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Add to that the metabolic demands of breathing, digesting, and the rest of the body’s basic functions, and riders are constantly chasing for a break-even level of energy.

The only way to keep on keel?

Mammoth menus and a fast-flowing stream of carbs.

“These guys look skinny, and they’re tiny when you see them for real. But they sure know how to eat. They have huge appetites,” EF Education-EasyPost nutritionist Will Girling told Velo .

‘Riders eat a lot of rice … like, kilos of it’

When they’re not pedaling or sleeping, riders are probably eating – and it’s most likely to be carbohydrates on their plate.

Carbs are the endurance kings of macronutrients, with basic staples like rice, pasta, potatoes, and bread the jewels in their crown.

They’re the energy-giving fuels that power bunch sprints and drive mountaintop victories.

And in the modern pro peloton, rice is increasingly becoming the carbohydrate of choice.

“Riders eat a lot of rice … like, kilos of it. It’s sort of boring, but it works,” Trek-Segafredo chef Bram Lippens told Velo . “We add sauces like tomato or pesto to keep it interesting, but it is essentially still just rice!”

A rider is never far from their next meal when at a grand tour.

Around three hours before a stage, riders will scarf down a breakfast banquet of rice, eggs, oatmeal, pancakes, and toast.

When riding through stages that can burn as many as 5,000 calories, legs are kept turning via carb-laden drinks, energy gels, bars, and team-made rice cakes. The demands of modern racing require riders to eat as often as three to four times per hour in what is an open pipeline of fuel.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Science in Sport (@scienceinsport)

And once a stage is done, a carb-based snack and recovery shake act as a mere stopover before another gut-busting meal in the evening.

The nighttime feast makes for a starchy double-serve that both boosts recovery from the day’s stage and refuels for the rigors to come.

“The night before a big race or stage we keep it simple with maybe chicken and rice, or salmon and rice,” Girling said. “It’s nearly always white rice we serve, because it’s so easy to consume and it’s low fiber.”

The rice-rich diet of the modern Tour de France rider defies the belief that the peloton pedals on pasta.

“Rice is more energy dense than pasta. So for the same volume, you got more carbohydrate from rice. Plus it’s gluten-free. So theoretically it’s more digestible than pasta,” Jayco-AlUla nutritionist Laura Martinelli told Velo .

“Pasta is OK if it’s the correct type and cooked properly, and we don’t stop riders from eating it. But if I had to recommend one or the other I’d 100 percent always say rice.”

High energy, locally sourced

The entourage of any pro team has expanded exponentially in recent decades.

In-house nutritionists and chefs like Martinelli, Girling, and Lippens are now as common as the soigneurs, mechanics, and masseuses that have long had their seats in a grand tour team bus.

Jayco-AlUla staffer Martinelli oversees the diets of Tour-bound riders like Simon Yates, Dylan Groenegen, and U.S. all-rounder Lawson Craddock.

One of Martinelli’s daily on-race functions is to plan out what each individual needs to eat, based on the demands of the stage to come. Bodyweights and expected expenditures make part of a series of calculations that ensure riders match the huge energy output of the Tour de France with a similarly staggering caloric input.

For a relatively straightforward sprint stage like this year’s seventh stage into Bordeaux, Martinelli’s riders would be tasked with taking down around five grams of carbohydrate per kilo of bodyweight.

For the kingmaker mountain stages through the Pyrénées and the Alps, that multiplies up to almost beyond-belief bucketloads of carb. On the Tour’s toughest days, a rider like Craddock might force down up to 18 grams of carbs per kilo of his mass.

At around 69 kilograms (152 pounds), the Texan would be facing more than 1,200 grams of carbohydrate over the course of a day’s meals, shakes, and on-bike nutrition.

For context, that’s the equivalent of around four kilos of prepared white rice or a similar amount of white pasta.

“Toward the final week when there are more big days in the mountains and riders are getting more tired, eating so much can become more difficult,” Martinelli said.

“We try to make things easier by preparing energy-dense food and minimizing the total volume. So we choose the most carb-rich sources we have and use carb drinks and smoothies. When a rider is fatigued, they typically find it easier to drink than to eat.”

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Owen Blandy (@owenblandy_)

Professional chefs like Trek-Segafredo’s Lippens work out of kitchen trucks or hotel facilities to prepare menus that would be worthy of a five-star restaurant.

Meat, fish, and vegetables freshly sourced from local shops and markets come together with a deep traveling storecupboard to create meals that are about a lot more than just fuel.

“When they’re eating so much, we need to maximize the flavors we serve and keep it quite varied. But it needs to be simple at the same time,” Lippens said. “Some things like the carbs, we have to serve. But we try to change the sauces, chicken, salmon, whatever as much as we can or riders will lose interest.”

The question of ‘watts per kilo’

A healthy racer who’s following an appropriate meal plan should have both the fuel to recover from the past stages, and the energy to power the days to come, all the while keeping a steady bodyweight.

Riders check their weight on a daily basis and report back to staffers to ensure they’re on a level.

Although the watts-per-kilo equation is crucial for climbing speed, lost mass comes at the risk of muscle wastage or hormonal malfunction.

As with sports like running and gymnastics, body mass is a big metric in the pro peloton. And in an environment where disordered behaviors could easily become commonplace, teams use weigh-ins to ensure riders aren’t toying with long-term health problems.

“We always would prefer they eat a little more than a little less, within reason,” Martinelli said.

Intriguingly, some riders finish a three-week race like the Tour de France heavier than they started.

Younger riders or grand tour rookies might mistakenly over-fuel for fear of getting dropped. Others report water retention resulting from long days of travel or the impact of glycogen storage.

“A bigger rider can gain two to three kilos in water weight, very quickly,” Martinelli said. “We can manage that by changing the distribution of when in the day they eat carbohydrates. That should manage their insulin response and prevent more fluids. But it’s difficult to get perfect.”

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bram Lippens (@bram_cooking_stuff)

Carbohydrate isn’t the only thing carefully monitored in the Tour de France diet.

Protein intake is supercharged to help maintain muscle mass and to speed post-race recovery; healthy fats like olive oil, avocados, and nuts are a must-have due to their contribution to hormonal health and vitamin absorption.

There is one food group that does take a hit however.

Fiber is drastically reduced on hard mountain stages or days expected to be particularly intense, such as this Tour’s climb-filled grand départ .

The so-called “low G.I. protocol” ensures riders take the next day’s start line with empty stomachs and low water weight.

“Before all hard and heavy races, they skip salads and almost all the raw fruits and vegetables,” chef Lippens said. “I may put out a few veggies, like just one or two pieces of broccoli. They basically eat like teenagers.”

The booze, burgers, and brownies of balance

However, the daily diet of a Tour de France racer isn’t all carefully calculated carbohydrate quantities and the leanest cuts of meat.

Staffers appreciate the need for balance.

Desserts like brownies, cheesecakes, and fruit tarts are served daily, and the night before a rest day will see teams allow riders to let off some nutritional steam. Barbecues, or homemade pizzas, burgers, or lasagna are cited as the most-frequent pre-rest-day treats served to the multinational peloton.

And, of course, victories are celebrated with something a little more appetizing than another carb drink or high-vitamin shake.

“We’re lucky at Jayco-AlUla,” Martinelli said. “Our owner [Jerry Ryan] owns amazing wineries in Australia, so we always have good wine with us.

“We mainly have red, but sometimes white. The guys only get one glass, but it’s better to have one very good glass rather than a whole bottle of a bad one. The occasional glass – that’s recovery for the mind!”

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TRAINING PLANS WILL BE COMMUNICATED TO YOU LATER. STAY CONNECTED.

The secret to achieving your cycling goals lies in determination and preparation. There are no shortcuts, but by giving yourself the necessary means, you can achieve your goals.

That's why, in collaboration with the FFC (French Cycling Federation), we're offering you a detailed training plan for the last 3 months before L'Étape du Tour de France. These 12 weeks will give you the peace of mind you need to be in top form on D-day.

We've divided your preparation into 3 blocks of 4 weeks, with each block focusing on a specific aspect: velocity, strength and power. We believe in the equation power = strength x velocity.

TRAINING PLAN "THE CLASSIC PROGRAM"

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Plan dedicated to women and taking into account menstrual cycles.

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Want to go further and get a personalized coaching ?

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You'll be able to export your sessions on your GPS bike computer, monitor your improvements, validate your feelings and get in touch with the FFC coaches who'll be delighted to support you!

Your goal: be at your best for L'Étape du Tour de France 2025!

FAQs of the Tour de France: How lean? How much power? How do they pee mid-stage? All that and more explained

Ever wondered why riders have such veiny legs? Do riders share rooms? How does a 60km ride count as a rest day? We take a look at the burning questions and those you never thought to ask

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The 2024 edition of the Tour de France is not far away - and if you’ve watched previous editions, there’s probably quite a fair few points that might have piqued your curiosity. That is to be fully expected - a lot is left going on behind the scenes that the cameras aren’t capturing.

Google's autocorrect can provide us with a wealth of information around the general public's deepest thoughts about the pros. For instance, it seems there are enough people desperately searching for ‘how do cyclists pee whilst racing the Tour de France?’ that the search engine is serving up this suggestion for everyone. 

Naturally, we couldn’t leave them hanging, and our answer to how exactly cyclists do pee during top level races can be found here. There’s an almost dizzying array of other questions, too, which we'll get fully stuck into here.

We will take a look at Tour de France performance trends and, continuing past the finish line, we’ll also reveal what the riders get up to in their team buses and talk more about how the pros deal with the hotel-to-hotel life that makes up the three weeks of a Grand Tour.

Why are Tour de France cyclist’s legs so veiny?

We’ve all got veins in our legs quite near to the skin surface, but they are hidden by a layer of fat just under the skin. 

Tour de France cyclist's legs appear to be uber-veiny for two main reasons: firstly, they have much less body fat than ‘ordinary’ people, and secondly, their veins and arteries have adapted to carry more blood around their bodies. The cardiovascular adaptations are numerous, but a large increase in vein and artery diameter is one of them. You can read more about the science behind why Tour de France rider’s legs are so veiny here.

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What do Tour de France riders do on their rest days?

They ride, and not just a little amble around the streets. Most will be on their bikes for two hours and some even more. 

In the early days of Team Sky, Russell Downing found out why after the first rest day of his Grand Tour debut in the 2011 Giro d’Italia: “It was a hard race, the weather was bad and by the first rest day I was really tired. The others asked if I was going with them, but it was cold and raining and I said I’d go on the turbo in the hotel basement instead. I did that for about 45 minutes, just very easy, then went back upstairs to lie down. Next day I was nailed for the whole stage, just hanging on. I was okay the day after, but I’d learnt my lesson and rode with the boys on the next rest day. If you don’t ride reasonably hard on the rest day , your body thinks you’ve stopped and switches off ready for deep recovery. You’ve got to keep it firing for the whole three weeks.” 

What is a soigneur in cycling and what are their duties during the Tour de France?

Soigneur is the French word for ‘carer’, and basically soigneurs care for riders. They prepare them for each stage, looking after them at the finish and back the hotel, with massage and rehab therapies. And they care in other ways too. 

Dirk Nachtergaele, a Belgian pro team soigneur for over 40 years says: “A soigneur is also like a priest. We are the one who riders can confide in, confident that anything they tell us goes no further. They can complain about another rider, the sports director even; they can talk about problems at home – anything. They know we will not tell anyone what they said. That role as confidante is as necessary in a team as being a skilled therapist.”   

How light and lean are the Tour de France climbers?

Double Tour de France stage winner, and now retired Irish pro rider Dan Martin was a climbing specialist. His racing weight was 62kg, which is light for his 5ft 9in height, but some shorter climbers weigh under 60kg. However, being super-light is no longer the preserve of the pure climbing specialists. Defending Tour champion Pogacar is the same height as Martin and only slightly heavier at around 66kg, while 2019 winner Egan Bernal , also 5ft 9in, is a true featherweight at just 60kg. 

The riders mentioned start the Tour de France with body fat percentages well below 10 per cent, but nutritionists are careful not to allow ‘cutting’ to go too far. 

In fact, it can be better to offload a little muscle, as Dr Rob Child, a performance biochemist who worked with several World Tour teams, explains: “It’s sometimes worth losing a bit of muscle to reduce weight because very low body fat has health implications. Tour de France performance is governed by the cardiovascular system, not by the maximum force applied to the pedals. Pro riders don’t need huge amounts of muscle to pedal at 400 watts for 20 or 30 minutes, and that’s often the key to performing well overall in the Tour. They need a highly developed cardiovascular system, not big muscles.” 

Why do Tour de France riders drink Coca-Cola?

Most team nutritionists would rather the riders didn’t drink coca cola, and some teams even forbid it.

That said, there’s also always one small can of coke in the musettes Trek-Segafredo gives its riders. Drinking a regular fizzy drink such as a cold can of coke after a stage is good for morale – and preserving positivity in a brutal three-week race is vital.

Of course, the most important nutritional consideration for riders is getting enough calories to meet the extreme demands of the race. If you’re wondering how they achieve that, here we look into what exactly goes into fuelling the riders of the Tour de France .

What do Tour de France riders do to recover between stages?

The standard of hotels used by the Tour has improved a lot in recent years, so that helps with sleep and recovery . Even so, teams provide further ‘home comforts’ by carrying all their own bedding, including mattresses and pillows. They also have their own washing machines in the team buses and equipment trucks. Everything is done to promote good sleeping habits and hygiene. 

Riders generally do room-share, partly through tradition but also because it’s good to have company. Pairings are decided diplomatically, though.

Why and how do riders warm up before each stage?

The ‘why’ is explained by double Tour stage winner Steve Cummings: “There are two races in every stage: the first is to get a breakaway established, and the second is to win the stage. If I saw a stage that suited me, one where a break might stay away and give me a chance to win, I’d focus on the first hour to 90 minutes, nothing else. Typically it was attack after attack right from the start, then a huge effort to get the break established. You had to be fully warmed up for that.” 

As to the ‘how’, a Tour warm-up is usually done on a turbo trainer, allowing the whole team to warm-up in one compact space, everyone controlling their effort. Ineos-Grenadiers’s deputy team principal Rod Ellingworth says: “The idea is to prepare the rider’s energy systems for a fast start. They ride steady but progressively harder for at least 20 minutes, then do five minutes of capacity work to open everything up. After that they pedal easily and try to stay loose.”

How much do riders have to eat to meet energy demands?

Riders can burn twice or even three times their usual calorie requirement during a hard day at the Tour. Nigel Mitchell, a nutritional consultant who worked extensively with WorldTour cycling teams, says: “At a Grand Tour, riders can burn more than 5,000kcal on a single stage, depending on the terrain, and that means consuming a huge amount, both off the bike at meal times and on it during the race, in the form of energy drinks, bars and gels.” To put 5,000kcal into perspective, it is roughly equivalent to four large McDonald’s BigMac meals. 

What do the riders eat after each stage?

 Does each rider have their own bespoke meals? Who does the cooking?  

Three questions, but they are related and so are the answers, which come from a former Tour de France rider, UAE Team Emirates former sports director and current race analyst Allan Peiper. The man who oversaw Tadej Pogačar’s first Tour de France win in 2020 told us: “Each rider has a bespoke meal plan based on any needs flagged up by team doctors and physiologists, and on any personal physiological quirks such as intolerances or allergies. The medics talk with nutritionists, and the nutritionists tailor meals to meet specific needs. Each team also has its own chef who works with the nutritionist to prepare tailor-made meals.” 

How heavy are the heaviest riders in the race, and how do they get over the mountains inside the time cut?

There are very few riders of over 80kg in the Tour de France nowadays. The limiter when climbing mountains is power-to-weight ratio, and if a rider is too bulky they cannot overcome the disadvantage, no matter how mighty their power output. The heaviest Tour de France rider since 2000 was the Swede Magnus Backstedt, who says: “I had to be the lightest I could be for the Tour, which was around 90kg, and as fit as I could be. But at my weight, every hill is steep, and the mountains were a real challenge. On mountain stages, I’d hang on to the peloton for as long as possible, then look for a good grupetto – that’s what we call the groups of non-climbers who ride together to get inside the time limits. Once in a grupetto with experienced riders, it was just a case of digging deep, sometimes very deep, and hanging on.” 

Grit and stubbornness get heavier riders up the mountains, but they have an advantage to deploy on the other side, going down. Tour stage winner Sean Yates was a tall, well-built rider, and he says: “You have to get good at descending if you are bigger. You can’t regain all the time you lost going up, but you can get some of it back by really going for it on the descents.”

What’s the relationship between rider age and Tour de France performance?

It used to be that riders developed into Tour contenders gradually over many years. Those youngsters who did take part would be expected to help the team and gain experience, and possibly even drop out after the first week. That’s all changed. Tadej Pogačar was just 21 when he first won in 2020, and Egan Bernal was 22 when he won in 2019. Pogačar’s coach Inigo San Millan has this to say about his rider’s prodigious ability: “He has extraordinary physiological characteristics, and the correct mental attributes, so he was already good enough to win at 21.” 

Until Bernal’s win four years ago, it was thought that riders reached their peak in terms of physiology, psychology and skill at around 26 or 27. According to Allan Peiper: “This may still be true, we just don’t know what the young winners we have now will be like when they are 27 or 28. Will they still be winning, or will the next generation have surpassed them?” At the other end of the scale, the oldest Tour winner of modern times was Cadel Evans in 2011, at the age of 34.  

What do the riders’ musettes contain?

Nothing very surprising, just a re-supply of the gels, drinks and energy bars. Musettes were more interesting in times gone by, when they contained cakes and tarts for energy, small ham and cheese baguettes for protein, and all manner of delights. The food was individually wrapped and packed by the soigneurs. The first female soigneur Shelley Verses, who worked for US team 7-Eleven in the 1980s, used to wrap her riders’ food in pages from Playboy magazine. “It was good for their morale,” she commented. 

Do Tour de France riders drink alcohol during the three weeks?

Yes, but not much. Stage wins might be celebrated with a glass of champagne, and sometimes a small glass of red wine is taken with the evening meal, but that’s as far as it goes. Teams have tried total bans on alcohol, but most allow small amounts to protect morale. 

All rather sensible – not like Tour riders from previous eras. In the early days of the race, riders drank wine and beer during stages because it was less of a threat to health than the contents of some of the primitive water supplies. Right up to the 1960s, some riders enjoyed a mid-Tour tipple or two. One of the most notorious stories is about the 1964 Andorran rest day when race leader Jacques Anquetil went to a party and indulged to such an extent he was hungover the next day and almost lost the race. 

How do Tour de France riders stay hydrated through sweltering long stages?

Nigel Mitchell tells us: “I get riders to start drinking as soon as they wake. I mix water with a little fruit juice in a big bottle, because that makes it more interesting than plain water, and I ask them to finish it before breakfast. They drink fruit juice with breakfast for the electrolytes, and another bottle of diluted fruit juice travelling to the stage start.

“During the stage, they drink from two bottles on the bike, one plain water and one energy drink, and they keep getting fresh bottles from the team car or support motorbikes. They get more fluid in a protein shake after the stage, and an electrolyte drink if it’s been hot. I also provide rice cakes, which contain quite a lot of moisture from the water absorbed by the rice during cooking. 

“Even then, we still check on hydration by checking the rider’s weight each morning. If they are well hydrated, they will stay at pretty much the same weight throughout the Tour.” 

What’s the role of the bottle-carrying domestiques in the Tour de France?

The cycling community uses a lot of French words, with domestiques being one of them. Transporting bottles from the team car to team-mates in the peloton is just one of many duties carried out by domestiques. 

This supply chain is overseen by the sports directors, as Allan Peiper explains: “The sports directors have real-time information in the team cars on each rider’s performance metrics. They can tell if anyone is having a bad day, and they won’t ask that rider to drop back to the team car and pick up bottles, because it could just push them further into the red.” 

Each team has several domestiques and their role, although complicated in execution, is straightforward in mission. It’s to put the team’s leader (or leaders) in the best position to challenge for victory.

That could involve riding at the front to control the peloton’s pace, leading riders who’ve punctured back to the action, chasing when a breakaway needs to be brought back, leading out sprinters at the end of stages, setting the pace in the mountains, and many other jobs. They even perform a very unglamorous function in comfort stops.

Find definitions of the French cycling terms you hear during the Tour de France , such as domestiques, over here.

In terms of FTP and watts per kilo, what does it take to be a GC contender at the Tour de France?

In 2020 the power meter supplier to Team UAE Emirates, Stages, released the following information on Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar’s performance metrics from Stage Nine, a mountainous stage in the Pyrenees: 

Time: 3:58:16 

Average power: 301W (4.5W/kg) 

Normalised power: 351W (5.4W/kg) 

Peak 5min power: 473W (7.2W/kg) 

Peak 20min power: 429W (6.5W/kg) 

To put these figures in context, good amateur racers (i.e. cat two) are capable of five-minute power in the region of 4-5W/kg and 20-minute power of 3.5-4.1W/kg. Even for committed amateurs who train hard, a huge gulf in performance separates them from the likes of Pogačar. 

Do Tour de France riders use dietary supplements. If so, which ones?

They need lots of protein to help recover, so they drink recovery drinks and eat protein bars to augment the protein they get from food. They sometimes consume vitamin and mineral supplements too. Dr Rob Child says: “I try to meet a rider’s needs through well-cooked, nutritious foods, but I always know what their nutritional state is in detail. We take regular blood tests, and I can use supplements to make good any deficiencies.”  

Do riders pee during the Tour de France?

If the race pace isn’t too high, riders can stop by the side of the road, having picked a place where nobody can see – which can be difficult. Peeing on the move is a skill Tour de France pros must have in their toolbox. It’s tricky, as it’s impossible to pedal while peeing, so it’s up to the poor domestique to ride alongside and with a hand on the back to maintain forward momentum. 

And here’s how difficult peeing can be…In 1965 British pro Vin Denson rode the 1965 Bordeaux-Paris, a 365-mile single day race, in support of the race winner Jacques Anquetil. As he approached Paris late in the afternoon, Denson realised he hadn’t peed since the start at 2.30am, and he was bursting. He stopped at the side of the road, but found he couldn’t pee at all, even though his bladder was full. Desperate, he shouted to the stationary team car and his soigneur got out, poured a flask of hot coffee down the front of Denson’s shorts, and Denson recalled: “I went like a fountain – it was glorious!”

This full version of this article was published in the print edition of Cycling Weekly.  Subscribe online  and get the magazine delivered direct to your door every week. 

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Chris has written thousands of articles for magazines, newspapers and websites throughout the world. He’s written 25 books about all aspects of cycling in multiple editions and translations into at least 25

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Slovenian finishes seventh in first race back since third Tour de France victory

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How much would you need to train for the Tour de France? Strava data says 9k+ miles!

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It’s too late to sign up to get picked for this year’s Tour de France, but if you want to qualify for next year’s peloton, you better start training.

That’s because getting sufficiently ready will require the equivalent of climbing Mt. Everest by bike 20 times, according to Strava . If that sounds like a big ask, you’ve got help: Strava’s researchers also created local routes to mimic TdF stages that anyone can ride.

A gargantuan training effort

The workout monitoring platform wanted to find out and highlight what it takes to prepare for the Tour de France and TdF Femmes, so it analyzed data it collected from pro riders this year. Starting in January, it found, Tour athletes covered at least 9,300 miles in distance while training for the race.

That’s the equivalent of cycling from the U.S. to Australia, and roughly the same as completing the Tour itself 5 times. The riders who trained the most cranked out a staggering 10,500 miles each (approximately).

Strava’s data also shows that, as you might think, the world’s best cyclists didn’t train for the Tour by just spinning their wheels on flat, easy bike lanes. Far from it: total elevation gain averaged almost 112 miles. Mt. Everest being about 4 miles tall, that’s north of 20 trips to the top.

To do it, cyclists put in about 400 hours in the saddle on average — 2 and a half months’ worth of standard full-time work weeks. The highest-volume performers clocked a punishing 600 hours. The longest individual ride during the data sample checked in at 186 miles. But it edged out countless others of more or less the same distance — Strava found riders averaged a similar ride about once a week.

If all that doesn’t sound heinous enough, Tour athletes actually dialed up the intensity in the weeks leading up to the race. Strava said some riders pedaled 30 hours a week shortly before the race, throwing down over 600 miles.

Finally, Strava’s data of course only accounts for what athletes decided to record on the platform. So the findings may only show a portion of the training among the 36 athletes it analyzed.

  View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Strava (@strava)

• Training hours: On average, pro cyclists recorded over 400 hours on the bike in individual training hours so far this year. However, the highest volume riders have clocked nearly 600 hours since January.
• Gaining momentum: As we approach the Tour, some riders are committing over 30 hours each week of training on the bike – surpassing 1,000km per week.
• Elevation: Further to hours and distance, the total elevation gained by the pro riders during their training in 2022 is over 180,000 meters – the equivalent of climbing Mt Everest over twenty times
• Going the distance: The longest individual ride amounted to just over 300km (186 miles). This is the equivalent of cycling from San Francisco to Fresno, California. On average, athletes are completing a ride of similar distance once a week, every week
• Calorie burn: Male and female riders training for the race have individually burned over 350,000 calories. This is comparable to burning the calories that would have been consumed from eating over 4,500 French macarons or 1,500 croissants

Strava builds local routes to simulate TdF stages

Want to train like a Tour de France or Tour de France Femmes rider? Strava’s got your back. Analyzing segment data based on distance and elevation, its researchers identified local routes similar to Tour stages, for everyday cyclists to test themselves against. Want to lean into TdF stage 12 in Alpe d’Huez? Check out Strava’s Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah route. For stage 1 of the TdFF, which concludes at the Arc du Triomphe, do Brookly, N.Y.’s Prospect Hill Bomb.

Meanwhile, you can follow the 2022 Tours through Strava’s partnership with the race. To track the action, you can use the Tour de France and Tour de France avec Zwift race hub in the Strava app . There, you can access stories from inside the peloton, expert breakdowns of key segments, uploads from each stage, and insights into rider experiences.

You’ll still have to risk it to get the biscuit, but training for the Tour has perhaps never been more accessible. Then again, all you ever had to do was get on your bike and ride — the equivalent of 20 times up Mt. Everest, it turns out.

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Would be cool see what kind or CTL you’d have to carry over certain periods of time to be a world tour rider in a grand tour. I’d wager that number would be astronomical.

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How to Train For Tour de France Stages

July 06, 2022 3 min read

The Tour de France is one of the longest-running and most iconic cycle races in the world. This year, the race begins on Friday 1st July 2022 and the last stage is held on Sunday 24 July, consisting of 21 stages over 23 days.

Find out how the world’s best cyclists train for this Grand Tour and see how to train for the different stages yourself.

How to Prepare For The Tour

The Tour de France attracts the world’s top cyclists to undertake a gruelling 21 days of intense cycling. With various different stages along the way, from mountain climbs to sprints to time trials, athletes need to be in peak condition for this event. The preparation for the Tour de France is immense, from both the cyclists and their teams.

Cycle coaches will begin their preparation almost as soon the previous year’s race has ended, with training and planning beginning in early autumn. They will map out the entire year of training, and then fine-tune this when the following year’s route is confirmed. Like most competitive cyclists training for a summer race, pros will start building an endurance base over the winter. This will consist of a winter cycle training plan with emphasis on building a strong aerobic foundation.

As winter starts to wane, it’s time to increase the intensity. Tour de France coaches will start to include tempo and threshold workouts into their cyclists’ training plans in order to build up as much fitness as possible at the top level.

Finally, as the race approaches, the pros will switch to a race-specific programme so that they get to the start line in peak physical condition.

Alpe d'Huez

How to Train For a Mountain Stage

Mountain cycling requires aerobic efficiency and puts a constant load on slow-twitch muscle fibres. Cyclists preparing for a Mountain Stage will need to train for dealing with fatigue as the body will need to consistently supply the resources the muscles need to sustain the effort.

One of the main benefits of an indoor bike trainer, like the Wattbike Atom smart bike , is that you can train for tough climbs even if you live in a relatively flat area. Not only this, it’s ideal for those who want to hone their technique and improve at cycling climbs by using cycling data and feedback.

Looking to improve your climbing ability? Try 'The Climber' to simulate a mountain segment, or take on Stage 7 - La Planche des Belles Filles or Stage 12 - Alpe d'Huez in the Summer Sessions x The Tour category on the Wattbike Hub App .

How to Train For a Sprint Stage

Sprinters need to be able to work above their threshold and have explosive power for short bursts. The job of a sprinter is to get to the finish and still have the power and energy to win. To train for a Sprint Stage, you’ll need to work the energy systems needed to make this happen. There’s a heavy load on both slow and fast-twitch muscle fibres. This means you’ll need to be able to produce high power and deal with fatigue to improve your cycling sprinting .

Try "The Leadout Train' in the Summer Sessions x The Tour category on the Wattbike Hub app to simulate building up to short, intense efforts.

How to Train For a Time Trial Stage

In the Tour, a Time Trial Stage pits one cyclist against another in a raw battle of speed and power over a set distance. Individual time trial cyclists need to build immense power and be able to sustain it over the distance. It requires efficiency in pedal stroke, so you’ll need to practise this on an indoor bike trainer . This can give you pedalling technique feedback and analysis to help you improve your speed in a time trial .

Tune into the Tour coverage and test your physical ability with "The Time Trial' in the Summer Sessions x The Tour category on the Wattbike Hub app.

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Training for the Tour de France Isn’t What It Used to Be. Here’s Why.

Tour riders eat more food, race less, and train at altitude more frequently than ever before. Dutch team Jumbo-Visma takes us inside its preparation for the world’s biggest bike race.

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This article was first published by VeloNews .

Training for the Tour de France looks very different today compared to how it did a few decades ago.

Weeks-long training camps held at high altitude are now the norm, and riders spend less time racing than they did in previous generations. This model helps Tour riders like Primoz Roglic and Tadej Pogačar achieve their optimal fitness. Previously, riders used to starve themselves in order to hit race weight. Now, nutritional strategies follow a “more-is-more” mindset. The fear of peaking too soon—achieving top fitness prior to the race—is a thing of the past.

On the eve of this year’s race, officials from Dutch team Jumbo-Visma gave VeloNews a peek at their pre-Tour de France training regimen. The team’s captains Roglič, Wout van Aert and Jonas Vingegaard had recently demolished the WorldTour peloton at France’s Criterium du Dauphiné, the weeklong Tour warm-up race.

“We are very very happy with their shape and how their form is at the moment,” team performance director Mathieu Heijboer told VeloNews after the Critérium du Dauphiné.

They achieved this winning form after following a training regimen that bucked the trend of cycling’s traditional preparation philosophies, Heijboer said.

“As you could see at the Daupiné, Primoz, Wout and Jonas are very good. And those guys are feeling recovered already. The program and training we scheduled definitely seem to be paying off, and going on track,” he said.

• 2022 Tour de France race preview
• Jumbo-Visma fires warning shot to Tour rivals at the Dauphiné

Jumbo-Visma’s Tour de France route map reveals a lot about how the road to the world’s biggest race evolved over recent decades. Here’s why:

Train More, Race Less

Some fundamentals of modern-day training plans haven’t changed from the old ways, and never will.

“One of the key aspects of winning the Tour de France is having a good and consistent training block over a very long period, months,” Heijboer said. “That’s the foundation, the most important part.”

Riders complete consistent training blocks in which they ride 30 hours a week—or more—during the early months of the season. Riders complete multiple rounds of these blocks before taking in a one-week rest prior to early races.

Roglic and Pogacar don’t publish much of their data. But Jumbo-Visma’s American rider Sepp Kuss does. Kuss completed weekly blocks that ramp from 15 to 25 hours before a race in a template that’s become a no-brainer over dozens of years.

But what is very different from years ago is the priority of training over actual racing.

Not so long ago, Tour contenders would compete in multiple stage races and one-day events through the spring and early summer to hone their fitness. Now, many Tour riders like Kuss, Roglič, and Pogačar skip the constant racing and instead go off-grid for weeks in high-altitude training camps.

At these camps, their workouts are prescribed with laser precision to replicate racing efforts to the watt.

“We all do different efforts when we’re on camp,” Kuss told VeloNews after he returned from Sierra Nevada, Spain, in June.

“We have different guys with different goals and different roles, so training is pretty varied between riders. There’s some pretty specific intervals for all of us.”

Also read: Inside Sepp Kuss’s old-school training program

Dodging elbows and potholes in a race is dangerous. In previous years, Tour riders have crashed early and been sidelined by injuries. Today, some riders avoid those dangers as much as possible.

Kuss took in seven days of racing at Italy’s Tirreno-Adriatico in the late Spring. The fitness boost he got from that race set him up for his training push for the Tour de France. Prior to the Tour de France, Kuss had completed 27 total days of racing. Compare that to the 2012 racing schedule of another climbing domestique, Irishman Nicolas Roche, who notched 46 days of racing prior to that year’s Tour.

Roglic, Pogacar, and other GC racers are similarly selective about when they race.

“We always incorporate enough time to train, especially for the GC riders. On the other hand, it’s also important to be racing, to get the feeling of the peloton and the need to be competitive,” Heijboer said.

“But we always keep in mind there’s enough time to train for a rider like Primoz, that’s almost priority. And that’s why his race program is quite limited when you compare it to riders a decade ago,” he added.

Roglic completed 26 race days prior to the Tour. Pogacar was at 24. Those numbers would have been bigger not so long ago. Prior to the 2010 Tour de France, Alberto Contador of Spain raced 37 days.

“Being able to train consistently is key as a GC guy,” Heijboer said. “It means we can get them to a high level and able to recover from the training. Then they can improve from racing at certain points instead of losing form from racing too much.”

Altitude, Altitude, Altitude

It’s not just about accumulation and consistency on the training bike. It’s also amassing about time at thin air.

Prior to the Tour, Jumbo-Visma’s Tour team hunkered down in the French ski resort town of Tignes, which is at 5,938 feet above sea level, for their third high-altitude training camp of the year.

“The timing of altitude is an important part of the program but also the accumulation of altitude,” Heijboer said.

“We send riders likely to do the Tour de France to altitude in February not only to prepare the spring races, it’s also to build some altitude into the beginning of the season. Then they accumulate more and more time at altitude during the year. It’s about building the adaption.”

Jumbo-Visma’s Tour crew then traveled from the French ski resort to the race’s opening stages in Copenhagen just days before the race. The late arrival, Heijboer said, helped them overcome the hungover feeling that some riders suffer when returning to sea level from the mountains.

“There are some riders who we know of that have some bad days after altitude. But since we have now so much experience with all the riders because they have been to altitude so many times, we know well when they might have a bad day and if they have a bad day at all,” Heijboer said.

“The altitude window is a good excuse they use when they have shit legs I think. We see most riders being very strong straight after altitude [without sea-level adaption time],” he added.

Bigger Dinner Plates Are Better Dinner Plates

And the thorny issue of race weight—the era of going to bed hungry in order to shed pounds is no longer a thing.

Power is the kingmaker of the watts-per-kilogram equation—a formula that determines a rider’s overall speed—and today, racers eat more food than they did a decade ago, but under the watchful eye of nutritionists.

“Towards the Tour de France, we are trying to reach an optimal race weight. But most important is optimal nutrition and hydration in training so that the effect of training is maximized, and so the recovery after training is maximized. That lets riders train and race consistently,” Heijboer said. “Of course race weight is important and we are focused on that. But we prioritize the right nutrition at the right time so they can be best.”

Also read: Feeding a day in hell: What riders eat to conquer the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix

Fed riders are healthy riders, Heijboer said. An extra 500 grams can make the difference between the Paris podium, and illness and overuse injuries.

“Being 100 percent focused on losing weight is a big threat for mental well-being. And if that’s harmed, you certainly don’t have a good rider and performance,” Heijboer added. “That’s always in our mind.”

Peaking Too Soon? Nah.

Are Jumbo-Visma officials worried that Roglic, Vingegaard, and Van Aert are getting too fast too soon?

Four-time Tour winner Chris Froome famously started the 2018 Giro d’Italia out of shape and overweight. Team Sky profiled the stages and mapped out Froome’s wattage output to see weight loss and performance gains through a three-week period that took Froome to the pink jersey.

So, should riders go into the Tour still searching for form? Screw that, says Heijboer.

“I don’t believe that you can be too good too early. I think peaking and growing to a shape is also a mental thing. And although we raced to win in the Dauphiné, we always kept the Tour in mind. So we still know there’s a bigger goal ahead of us,” he said.

“I’m sure that Jonas and also the other guys can at least maintain but probably improve their level.”

Heijboer’s hypothesis will be put to the test as the Tour de France enters the Alps this coming week.

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'Since being shot he'd never ridden a great race, so he was terrified' - Kathy LeMond on the 1989 Tour de France

Extract from The Road Book (1989) reveals how Kathy and Greg LeMond experienced the most dramatic Tour victory ever

The 1989 Tour de France is widely rated as the best ever modern-day edition of the race, featuring the narrowest of victories for Greg LeMond on the Champs Elysées ahead of Laurent Fignon in the final time trial. LeMond's victory, his second in the Tour, also represented an incredible turnaround for the American after his near-fatal hunting accident in 1987 and two rollercoaster seasons that followed. In this moving memoir of her and Greg's experiences, from The Road Book Blue Series , and history both on and off the bike in that period, Kathy LeMond provides an acute and warmhearted insight into how LeMond first found his way to Europe and conquered the biggest bike race in the world in a tumultuous year and when it looked like it was far from possible to achieve.

How it all began

The first time I ever saw Greg, he was sitting with his parents in a coffee shop. I was visiting a friend who was also a cyclist, and I saw him and his family happily talking together. I think it was because he had such a great relationship with his mom and dad that he wanted me to travel with him to races. There was something about how close they were. They could talk about anything and they always respected his opinion. It wasn't like they were just parents telling him what to do; that never was the case. They were just supportive, extraordinary people. His mom is gone now, but his dad is still alive.

You see, when we got married he was 19 and I was just 20. We were so crazily in love. We really didn't have anybody else. I don't even know how to describe it. It was just, you know, how it is when you first fall in love. We had been together a year and a half when we got married, and I just couldn't even imagine living without him.

Cyrille Guimard got him a ride when Renault offered him a contract. He, Bernard Hinault and Jean-Marie LeBlanc came to visit Greg at his parents' house in Reno. I mean, at 19, Greg was very young to turn pro. They were concerned about how it would work out because Americans often struggled in France; they could be lonely, unable to speak the language, although we both spoke a high-school level standard of French. And Greg was already making $35,000 a year in America, but only $12,000 in Europe.

Cyrille arranged a place for us to live only 15 miles from his house. It was meant in a supportive way, and not in any way negative. He made sure that I could also come to France with Greg because he felt he had signed a real diamond. He put his arms around us and said, 'OK, I'lI make this as easy as I can for you.' Greg took Berlitz classes and got a French tutor, whereas Cyrille tried to learn English so that he and Greg could communicate better.

Greg had the ability. I think he always thought he had the ability. He was sustained by the dream of winning the Tour de France . That kept him going through some very difficult periods.

I should fast-forward.

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The fightback begins

1987 was the hunting accident. Then, in 1988, he'd crashed in one of the Classics, gouging his chin and damaging his tendon. Every time he tried to ride again, it would seize up and he wouldn't even be able to pedal. Every day for a week he tried, until he couldn't even walk any more. We should have probably got a surgeon to do it right away, but it took until July for him to be operated on. So the beginning of 1989 felt like he was almost starting over.

Everyone had a lot of sympathy for him, and there was a lot of goodwill, but it must have been very hard for him.

He finished sixth at Tirreno-Adriatico , and fourth at the Critérium International, but then he picked up the Epstein -Barr virus, which was the next blow. He went to California, where he was going to try and train. My dad was an immunologist and had been working with a viral vaccine that he gave to Greg - basically a diluted flu shot designed to have his immune system respond. And just before his next race, the Tour de Trump, Greg started to feel better. But it was still one thing after another and he was totally out of shape.

At this time, I was about four months pregnant with our daughter Simone. I was seeing an obstetrician in the States because the plan was to have the baby back in America in October, after the end of Greg's season. I had given a routine blood test, and the next week Greg had to fly to Italy for the Giro . I took him to the airport in the morning, and I was due to fly with our two sons to Belgium in the afternoon. But when I got back home from seeing Greg off, the phone rang. It was the doctor.

I'm afraid you've got some bad results here. I'm so glad you haven't left.'

I told him that my plane was at two o'clock.

'I'm sorry, but you can't go. We need to talk.'

It seemed there were indications of possible Down's syndrome and further complications.

They wanted me to undergo an amniocentesis test. At the same time, my cousin Geoff (who we named our son Geoff after) was working as a stuntman in a Chuck Norris film in the Philippines and he ended up being killed in a helicopter crash. It was just a family nightmare.

In the meantime, Greg was starting the Giro having just found out that there was something potentially wrong with his daughter. On stage 2 to Mount Etna he lost eight minutes, and that night he called home and told me he was thinking he should just quit the sport altogether.

If you think you're going to lose a child, a cycling career suddenly doesn't seem very important. It gave him some perspective, just as it had done after his hunting accident: the most important thing was that he survived - that was a freaking miracle in itself; everything else was gravy. Now we still had another 14 days to wait for news on our daughter.

I wish people understood what it's like to be a professional athlete. When you see a cyclist not doing well, you have no idea what is actually going on in their lives. Their profession takes up 85 per cent of the energy they have for a day of living. They only have 15 per cent spare energy left for anything else. How best to use it? Greg was a father, a husband, a son.

When Greg joined Renault, the first thing they did was tell me what they expected from me: 'You do the laundry and cook for him. He needs three great meals a day.' But I made my views known too. I was just really lucky that Cyrille Guimard was open to my coming to the races because he thought it would be better for Greg. If I'd gone to the races and become an energy drain, they'd have kicked me out in a split second. Or if another rider had complained about me, I wouldn't have been able to stick around. There's no way they'd have put up with a wife who made a drama and wasn't fully supportive.

For those two weeks while I waited for the test results, I was having labour pains from the amniocentesis, and I couldn't get off the couch. I was worried I was going to lose the baby.

Then, one afternoon, I got a call that everything was fine. I'm not kidding, I got on a plane that afternoon with the two boys and we flew straight to Italy to be with Greg. Suddenly everything was OK! If you've had kids, you'll know how precious they are to you and that you'd die for them. We followed the race in the team bus for four or five days and it was just great: Greg could just ride again, rather than worrying about everything else.

On the last day of the Giro, it all came together, and Greg finished second in the time trial. He beat Fignon, putting over a minute into him. That gave him so much confidence going into the final 1989 Tour de France time trial. He was thinking: I've already beaten him by this much, and I wasn't feeling as good then as I'm feeling now. So he figured he could beat him. I mean, he always used to beat Fignon in time trials. The only question was: Can I beat him by enough?

I was there in Luxembourg at the beginning of the Tour. Greg couldn't believe what happened to Delgado [missing his prologue start time and effectively losing the Tour - Ed.]. I just remember him saying, ‘That's insane. How could his team have allowed that to happen?'

Greg's parents followed the entire Tour. I was on the race with the kids until it came close to our house in Kortrijk, and then we went home for a while. The riders flew from Belgium to Dinard. On the plane, Greg sat next to race director Jean-Marie Leblanc.

Remember that Leblanc had visited Greg with Hinault and Guimard in Nevada when they were signing him. Back then, he'd been the main cycling journalist for L'Equipe, and it had been a big story for him. After that, when Greg had been shot in 1987, I was eight months pregnant with our second boy. I had gone into labour while Greg was being operated on for his shotgun wounds. It had been a nightmare. I got to see Greg in the recovery room, and I kissed him before I got sent to another hospital for the birth. A day or so later, they let me leave my hospital to go and see Greg for a few minutes because he'd regained consciousness.

Just as I was going into the hospital, at around midnight, there was Jean-Marie Leblanc, sitting outside.

'Kathy!" he'd said. 'What's going on? They won't let us in the hospital. Can you tell us anything?'

I told him that I didn't know anything and that I hadn't even seen Greg.

'I'm here for as long as it takes,' he told me. I have to see Greg before I go back to France.

Please can you get me to him?'

Now, there were a lot of journalists there. It was a big national news story at the time. But Jean-Marie never left. Every time I came or went from the hospital over the next days, Jean-Marie was always there. On the fourth day, I said, 'OK, I'll see what I can do.' And he was the only person outside of family who saw him. When he saw Greg, he couldn't stop crying.

Greg was in terrible, terrible shape. So Jean-Marie really knew what Greg had been through.

And sitting next to him on that plane at the Tour, two years later, he asked Greg if there was anything he could do for him.

'You know what? said Greg. I need a car pass for my wife. I need her to be able to come and see me. If I go on to win this race, I will not get on the podium unless my wife is there.'

Immediately, I had a car pass and accreditation organised. It was the first time any rider's wife had been given them. The next day, after the time trial on stage 5, Greg took the yellow jersey. We were absolutely euphoric. It had been so long coming. He probably called me five times, and that was before cell phones! The hotel operator had to put the call through, or he had to go down to the lobby. We must have talked on the phone until four o'clock in the morning.

On the rest day before the Alps, I drove down, and then I followed the rest of the race the whole way to Paris. I was following the race, but in many ways I was no different to any other spectator. I could only go as far as the hotel lobby. I was never at the dinner table. I always stayed at another hotel. No one on the team took the slightest responsibility for anything to do with me. If I was there, I always made sure I was standing off to the side. I was really just there so that Greg had someone he could talk to at the end of a stage, someone he could trust 100 per cent. He needed to be able to play with the kids, switch off, talk about other things - fly-fishing, for example. Or he'd read a book about something else. Greg used to travel with textbooks he'd bought from the University of Brussels. He travelled with my organic chemistry books from college so that he could find out about the Krebs cycle. He only wanted facts. Cycling was a land of superstition and weird practices. He just wasn't interested in that.

Greg didn't know if he could race in the high mountains to come. He didn't know if he would crack. He rode super-defensively because he wasn't 100 per cent himself. Since being shot he'd never ridden a great race, so he was terrified. I mean, he literally had shotgun pellets in his heart. We didn't know what he might or might not be capable of. We didn't know what we didn't know.

He had a bad day on Alpe d'Huez. And the next day, I thought it was the end of the Tour for Greg after the stage to Villard de Lans. He thought so too. I remember Greg's mum and dad were with us that night, just sitting around, having a Coke and just talking. His parents were amazing: no expectations, no pressure; just let him vent, he'll figure it out. He won to Aix-les-Bains the next day.

Greg had been OK with Fignon taking the yellow jersey from him. Leading the race had been a lot of extra pressure. And Fignon had been saying that Greg wasn't riding aggressively enough, which made him absolutely furious because he'd seen Fignon hanging on to a motorbike. Greg said, 'Don't even go there. You should be out of this race.'

One day I was staying in the same hotel as Fignon's wife. She was working as a journalist on the race and asked me if she could join me for breakfast. We were having a nice, polite conversation when she suddenly said to me, 'Is Greg being just the biggest asshole right now?"

"No,' I said.

"Oh my God,' she said. 'I cannot stand Laurent right now.'Then she told me she didn't want to see him any more.

Greg couldn't believe it when I told him what she'd said. 'You gotta be kidding me! She told you that?'

The thing is, when Fignon wasn't winning, he was fine. We had so many mutual friends, so I knew he wasn't all bad. And after they both retired, Greg and Laurent had some really great conversations. But when Fignon was on top, he was just the worst.

The whole family was on the Champs-Elysées. Our babysitter in Belgium brought the two boys down to Paris. I drove there the day before, pregnant with Simone, and met with my parents, who'd come for the whole of the final week of the Tour. Greg's parents were there too. We had a hotel right by the Eiffel Tower.

On the morning of the final time trial, I left Greg alone. On time trial days, I let him reach out to me; I never reached out to him because he was focused in a different way to on other days

My dad said, 'I think he's going to win it.'

'C'mon, Dad,' I said. 'Let's just be happy with second. I don't think he'll win. I think it's too much. I don't want that pressure on him, and I don't want to be disappointed.'

From where we had been not that long before, second place in the Tour de France would have been a miracle. But I guess that's why I never won anything big! When the race started, within the first kilometre, I thought: Oh my God, he's good today. Maybe. Maybe. But it is going to be close. What I didn't know at the time was that my dad later took a cab to Greg's hotel with our five-year-old, Geoff. He'd just wanted to go there and tell Greg that he thought he could win. But they never made it back to join us in the VIP area and so they had to watch the race like any other spectators, from behind the fence when Greg came in. But when Greg got onto the podium, he spotted my dad and Geoff, who he hadn't seen for three weeks.

That's how Geoff ended up in all the photos with Greg on the podium.

The new 1989 Blue Book edition, from the publishers of The Road Book, captures one of the most remarkable years in professional cycling history. Order your first edition copy from a strictly limited print run for £40 from  www.theroadbook.co.uk

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All About Tour de France Nutrition Strategy and What Keeps Riders Fueled

Learn what top riders eat and their tricks to hydration, especially during extreme heat.

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The Tour de France presents unique challenges to teams and riders. They line up at the outset of each stage with jerseys fully stashed with food and soigneurs (staffers who support riders) patiently waiting at the feedzones with musettes (or bags) full of bars and gels.

One of the most brutal aspects of stage racing is its successive nature, and this calls for specific, finely tuned nutrition strategies to make sure each rider eats and drinks optimally (and enough) for the best possible performance and recovery , day after day.

While racing up climbs like the Col du Tourmalet hurts, not eating enough could cut a rider’s entire tour short. “Underfueling, even for a few days, could affect you for the rest of the race and create a really big hole to get out of,” says Canadian Derek Gee of Israel-Premier Tech.

Over the last few years, top-level teams like Visma-Lease a Bike and UAE Emirates have invested heavily in nutrition as it becomes clearer that eating and hydrating just right can give them a tangible competitive advantage.

“Meeting calorie and carbohydrate needs is the most important nutrition factor when it comes to a three-week stage race,” says Kristen Arnold, MS, RDN, CSSD, sports dietitian, cycling coach, and junior women’s road director for USA Cycling. “These not only ensure that the athlete’s glycogen stores [what your muscles use for energy] are managed optimally for performance, but also they provide other benefits, such as preventing the athlete’s immune system from weakening and putting them at risk for illness.”

Because nutrition is so important, pro athletes have experts to help them navigate the ins and outs of properly fueling for racing and recovering . “Most teams now have a nutritionist who is instructing daily on the number of grams of carbohydrate per meal, as well as per hour on the bike,” says Astana Qazaqstan rider, Joe Dombrowski. “These suggestions are based off the stage of the day, and retrospectively looking at the power file after the stage. All the food is weighed out on a gram scale, to get the quantities of carbs right.”

So, what exactly do Tour de France riders eat day after day during the race and just how much do they consume? We chatted with pro racers and former Tour riders to find out.

What does a daily food plan look like for Tour de France riders?

For a 200-kilometer day (more than 124 miles), for example, Arnold breaks it down:

• A big carb-rich meal two to four hours before the stage
• 60 to 120 grams of carbohydrate and 16 to 32 ounces of fluid with electrolytes per hour during the race
• A postrace recovery snack with 20 to 30 grams of high-quality protein and 1 to 1.2 grams of carbohydrates per kilograms body weight (about 60 to 90 grams)
• A big meal with carb-rich foods a few hours later, and consistently drinking fluids throughout the day
• Maybe a protein-rich snack before bed

While overfueling isn’t that common, eating foods too high in fat and protein (at least on race days) can take away from consuming high-carb foods, which can leave muscles depleted, Arnold adds. While you want protein postrace, before and during racing, it’s pretty much about the carbs.

What nutrition strategies do Tour de France riders use throughout the stages?

In terms of what riders actually put on their plates to meet their nutrition goals:

It all starts with breakfast several hours ahead of the race start

This allows plenty of time to digest their meal. “A huge breakfast of pasta or rice , two pieces of toast, one with ham and olive oil and the other with butter and jam. Oatmeal or corn cereal, a protein, and a good coffee,” says Spanish sprinter Iván García Cortina of team Movistar of what his a.m. meal might look like.

For Gee, who found himself at the head of four different breakaways at last year’s Giro d’Italia , it is “two YoPro yogurts with cereal and fruit, and three crepes with creamed honey.”

One thing riders might stay away from at that prerace meal: fiber , which can cause digestive issues, says Dombrowski. “A typical breakfast would may be rice with eggs, some crepes with jam, and coffee. Some guys eat pasta for breakfast, but I could just never get into that,” he adds.

Once the race gets started, there are a few ways riders can stay on top of eating and drinking enough

The first and more obvious one is by reaching into their pockets. “Our team usually carries bars, gels , rice cakes, jam and Philadelphia cream cheese sandwiches, and Nutella sandwiches,” says García Cortina. “My favorite is turkey and Philadelphia cream cheese.”

During the race, “I aim to eat every half hour and I’ll plan my food and drink combos to hit my carb goals for the race,” says Gee. “It’s actually incredibly easy to stay on top of eating and drinking on easy days because they’re the boring ones,” he adds. And by “easy days,” Gee refers to flat stages and time trials, when compared to the grueling mountain stages.

However, when riders need to counter attack or ride a breakaway, it is a matter of eating whenever possible, as fighting for position in the peloton can make it difficult to eat. “I keep a lap time on my Garmin screen all the time in the race, and I use that as a reference for staying on top of eating,” says Dombrowski. And while rice cakes are the go-to snack , gels are highly convenient for these race situations and for the end of a race when it’s hard to get food down.

Because riders need so many carbs, they’ll often find them in their bidons. And these days we are seeing hydration products, from brands like NeverSecond and Tailwind , contain higher concentrations of carbohydrates per fluid ounces. Not only does this offer another way of hitting your caloric goals for the day, but they “also metabolize well and don't contribute to bloating and other gut issues,” says Arnold.

While these products might work well for those with sensitive stomachs, they’re good for all endurance athletes, says Namrita Brooke , Ph.D., R.D., cycling coach and registered dietitian. “Due to the composition of the products (primarily the carbohydrate source and concentration and sodium concentration) and osmolality of the solutions [that’s their ability to keep you hydrated], they are generally well tolerated by riders who may experience GI distress with other products,” she explains.

Also, the riders may have preferences on how much carb they take in with their fluids. “Our team’s nutrition sponsor, Santa Madre , always has a low-carb option [for hydration mixes], a high-carb option, but some riders just like [plain] water,” says Gee. “I’m very good at getting calories in on the bike through food, so I tend to always race with the low-carb option and use it more for hydration than as a means to get more calories in.”

“I mostly drink a mix of maltodextrin and fructose , which varies from 40 grams of carbs per bottle, up to 90 grams,” says Dombrowski.

Once riders’ pockets empty out, they turn to designated “feedzones” along the course

This is where soigneurs hand musettes to riders who must grab them while still pedaling and trying to stay upright. Usually, these bags contain more bottles, gels, and you guessed it, rice cakes. But often the soigneurs will add drinks like Coca-Cola, frozen slushies (on very hot days ), and an old reliable American snack, Snickers bars.

If a rider misses a feedzone, they can drop back to their team cars to replenish. But once the race hits the 20-kilometers-to-go marker (12 miles), it is against the rules to receive support from your team car.

By the end of the day, a Tour de France rider may have consumed two or three energy bars, three or four small sandwiches or rice cakes, a Snickers bar, and two to three gels. And as soon as they cross the line, there is usually a snack and a recovery drink waiting for them.

As for a postrace meal, they get protein and carbs

Most riders have more pasta , rice, and protein like eggs , tuna, and chicken, but that diet is not for everyone. “I have a hard time eating rice more than one meal a day, so I opted to have yogurt and cereal, which if given the chance, I could probably have as every meal,” says Gee.

On rest days, they have more freedom

There are just two rest days in the Tour de France this year, but this is when riders typically have a “cheat day.” “We can eat a burger, sushi, or pizza, or any food that breaks the monotony of rice, pasta, and chicken. So we can enjoy a magnificent meal by our team chef,” says García Cortina.

Arnold also says rest days offer a good opportunity to eat more foods with a little more flavor than the typical chicken and rice combo. “The off days when the body is recovering and can digest more complex foods like whole grains and fibrous vegetables help to support the athlete’s gut and nutrient needs,” she explains.

Other than rice cakes, what do tour riders eat while in France?

While a Tour-de-France diet can be quite restrictive, riders do make exceptions for the pain et pâtisserie the country is known for a.k.a. the pastries. “Un croissant au chocolat, bien sûr!” (a chocolate croissant, of course!) is Gee’s go-to. While Dombrowski takes his plain, “sometimes it can be disappointing, but a good croissant—flaky, buttery, and a crispy noise when you bite into it—that’s magic.”

As for García Cortina, his pain better come with fromage . “A good baguette for breakfast and a bit of cheese with dinner,” he says.

How many calories do riders burn at the Tour de France?

The amount of calories riders burn at grand tours can range between 4,000 and 8,000 calories per stage, though it largely depends on the type of stage. “Flat sprint stages, which are not nervous in nature, or without crosswinds, tend to be lower kilojoule (kJ) days. Time trials are lower kJ days. Mountain stages, and days you might be in the breakaway, or pulling on the front of the peloton tend to be higher kJ,” says Dombrowski. This would mean that riders need to replenish the calories they burn, as well as take in the necessary amount to aid recovery after each stage.

“I was shocked at the amount of calories I burned [at the Giro]. It was around 84,000 calories for the whole race, approximately 4,000 a day on the bike,” says Gee.

“Riders should think of these long stage tours as eating competitions, not just bike races,” says Brooke. “The goal is to try to consume the calories expended and really fuel for today’s, as well as tomorrow’s, work/expenditure.” An athlete who does not match their caloric intake to their increased expenditure, could be harming their short and long term recovery, as well as overall health, she adds.

How do Tour de France riders stay hydrated?

“There is a mythical phrase that goes: drink without thirst and eat without hunger. It is very important to constantly be drinking and eating solid foods throughout the race. More importantly on the first part [of the stage], which can be more calm and it is easier to eat and chew, and leave the gels for the end,” says García Cortina.

A good rule of thumb for staying hydrated has always been one bottle of water per hour of riding—more on really hot days.

With the average stage lasting about 5.5 hours, grand tour riders may drink somewhere between five and eight water bottles per stage. Multiply that by the number of riders per team (eight), over 21 days, and that adds up to roughly 840 to 1,300 bidons per team, per tour—not including rest days or early abandonments from riders.

Pro teams take their hydration tracking to another level by measuring sweat loss (or sweat rate) and analyzing urine samples to fine tune each riders’ hydration needs. “The body weight (of riders) is typically taken in the morning, and before and after the stage. Additionally, many teams measure urine-specific gravity [a test that measures your kidneys’ ability to balance water content and excrete waste] in the morning, to help stay on top of hydration status,” says Dombrowski.

A 2 percent loss of body weight may hint to dehydration , and anything above that can negatively affect endurance performance, according to the University of Pittsburg Medical Center Sports Medicine . For every pound a rider loses, they should aim to drink 80 to 100 percent of that loss.

“I drink ‘as needed’ during a stage. I know that’s pretty broad, but it really depends on weather conditions,” says Dombrowski. “Racing a rainy Giro stage in the cold has totally different hydration requirements from racing a Vuelta stage in 45 degrees in the south of Spain.”

How do Tour riders hydrate in the heat?

On those really hot days, “we use a lot of 226ERS Hydrazero [a hydration mix] because it has more sodium ,” says García Cortina. “We also use ice-socks on our backs to keep the body temperature as low as possible.” The ice-socks are made of nylon ankle socks or stockings, filled with ice, and placed just below the neck and under their jerseys.

Teams like Visma-Lease a Bike go a step further by also freezing their gels and using ice-vests before and after stages.

Rosael is a writer and editor based in Philadelphia (Lenape land), where she enjoys the city’s obsession with sports and its accessible trail systems and cycling community. She has a bachelor’s in Communications and Journalism from the University of Puerto Rico.

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His goal was never to be the only American winner of the Tour de France. But that's what happened.

• On Saturday, 176 riders will start the Tour de France in Nice with hopes of finishing in Paris on September 20. The race is starting two months later than planned because of the coronavirus.
• The organizer and the 22 teams say they're taking precautions to keep the riders safe from COVID-19, including wearing masks, social distancing, and limiting attendance.
• There are just three American riders on this year's start list, and none are expected to finish high up in the general classification.
• We spoke with the first and only US winner of the Tour, Greg LeMond, about racing during the pandemic, favorites for the yellow jersey, and why he's excited for the future of up-and-coming American riders.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories .

On Saturday, the 107th Tour de France gets underway in Nice, two months later than originally scheduled because of the coronavirus. The organizer and the 22 teams say they'll be taking a deliberate approach to protect the 176 riders from COVID-19. This includes limited attendance, masks, social distancing, and lots of hand sanitizer (any rider caught leaving his team's safety "bubble" is to be sent home). And while the riders will not have to wear masks while competing, the race has asked that they wear them everywhere else. Meanwhile, spectators are being told to keep six feet from the athletes, and autographs and selfies with the riders are prohibited. Otherwise, the three-week route remains unchanged, and if all goes well, the race will finish in Paris on September 20.

To talk about this year's race, I spoke on Thursday with Greg LeMond , the winner of the Tour in 1986, '89, and '90. LeMond, now 59, was the first American to make it big in European cycling, having forged a path for US riders for years to come, including Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis , both of whom won the Tour in the "dirty" '90s and 2000s before their titles were stripped for doping . LeMond, who's also a two-time world champion, is considered the greatest American cyclist of all time. His '86 Tour victory over five-time winner Bernard Hinault is celebrated in the popular ESPN 30 for 30 " Slaying the Badger. " He won the closest-ever Tour, claiming the '89 edition by eight seconds over two-time champion Laurent Fignon, two years after being shot in a hunting accident . Today he lives in Tennessee, where he's restarting his bike company, LeMond , intending to roll out new models this fall.

During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we talked about this year's Tour, the sport's dark era, and some of the changes he's seen in his time.

Much of this year's pro-cycling season is being condensed into three months, August through October, with the biggest race, the Tour, starting this weekend, all of it during a pandemic. What do you make of it?

Well, when you look at what's happened with the pandemic, early on, Europe was really good at controlling the spread. But it's been on and off since. They just canceled the world championships, mainly because Switzerland is not allowing any groups over a hundred people. But you know, if you take the right precautions and you're outside, even with Formula One and a lot of these sports, they don't have to have the spectators on the side of the road or in the stadium.

If the riders are protected, I think it's great. You've got team sponsors and riders training throughout the whole year, so at least they're not missing the whole year. I actually think it's kind of exciting because usually, you have months to see the condition of riders, to see where they're at. There's a lot of pressure. The riders who were able to train outside definitely have an advantage, although you could do a pretty good job inside. This is going to be a good Tour. It's going to be very competitive.

This year's route looks deceptively challenging, with so much climbing throughout.

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The sport is favoring thinner and thinner riders . People sometimes basically look like they're anorexic. It's competitive, but they've got to even it out. They want it really tight, but they're making it tight for climbers. They've got to have longer, 50-, 70-kilometer time trials . You've got to have a guy like Tom Dumoulin have a chance, riders more all around. At least switch it up. For quite a few years it's been really geared toward climbers.

Who do you see as the favorites?

With Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas out, you've now got all these young riders with Tour de France potential. Egan Bernal has already won it. But you've also got Primož Roglič , Thibaut Pinot , Julian Alaphilippe . Roglič is injured, but I think it's going to be a really tight, exciting race.

You know, nowadays there are some bright stars, good all-rounders. What I love about right now is you've got these younger riders, like Remco Evenepoel . There are so many young, 22-, 23-year-old riders. It's a changing of the guard. And what I like is it's no longer riders all of a sudden getting good at 28. It's where you got talent at 18, 19, and you got talent at 25 and 30. It's really a good sign for cycling.

Then there's the American Sepp Kuss , 25, who recently won a stage of the Dauphine and is about to start his first Tour. What do you think of the US riders right now?

You've got Quinn Simmons and Magnus Sheffield — these guys are real talent. Sheffield is probably the most talented rider we've ever produced, maybe even better than me. I've been looking at his wattage, and he's 18. After two years of racing, he's third in the junior world championships . I don't know about winning Tours, but stages maybe, and being competitive in big tours.

You retired from racing in '94. What's different to you now?

Well, versus from the '90s and the perspective of the 21st century — actually starting about 2013, 2015 — there's a generation of riders who are not from that past. And the sport's got a lot more to lose on scandals. There's the biological passport . And I've looked at historical power output of riders. At the top end, there's still stuff where I go, "I just hope everything's on the up-and-up." But if you look at some of the riders going up the climbs, they're very thin, so I think that's a really good sign.

I think there was a real issue with the motor doping — a real issue. And I believe it is real, and it's been in the past. It's made dramatic changes, but I think that I don't see that anymore. But I guess what I look at right now is the French riders really have another standard of testing. When I see like a guy like Thibaut Pinot, who publishes all his data — everything — and he's literally close to winning the Tour, that's a really good sign.

The radios have changed the sport. I wish they'd go away, because I think it's part of the cause of a lot of the crashes. I mean, you're literally doing two or three things at a time. I also think the riders are under a lot of pressure now to perform all the time, which is quite difficult. A lot of these guys do two grand tours, so it's a very difficult sport. I've heard from the inside that it's gotten to be almost too — I don't want to say "too serious" — but it's, you know, there's not a lot of fun in the peloton. You've got guys like Peter Sagan , sure. But I think there's an error there. Things changed. There is the younger group of riders, who are a lot more open.

So what do you make of the sport today?

I think we're as good as we've been since the '80s right now, and only because I look at the talent that's coming out. I mean, if you're 19 years old and you're on a drug program right now, you'd have to have some pretty evil people behind you. But when you see these young riders now, it goes back to the historical norm. It's weird, but I think for a lot of people in cycling, especially in Europe, the '80s were kind of recognized as maybe the last — what I call — "somewhat clean" era. You know, nothing was ever perfect. But part of it was, like, with racing in the '90s and all the way to the Sky team, it became less personal, less interaction with the public.

And I have to say, with helmets and glasses — even though I brought them into the sport — haven't helped in that way. When you look back in the '70s and '80s, you see people's expressions. People want to see that — they want to see suffering. And that's why, honestly, the last three years, and last year's Tour, were so exciting, because you're seeing people wiped out. I mean, there were periods in racing, people got done with a stage, they weren't even breathing. It was, like, "Oh, I just did a training ride." That's not natural.

You were the first American to win the Tour. Years later, the US had three Tour winners. Then there were two. Now there's one again, you. How do you look at your place in cycling history?

I'm glad that I won the Tour de France. I would say that it wasn't my goal to be the only Tour de France winner, because it actually would help the sport if we had more US Tour de France winners. And believe it or not, I'm not the jealous type, at all. I have zero jealousy. That was a nice sound bite that people wanted to use. But I think what's happened is the correct thing. People who cheat, and really cheat, to win races should not be winners. I mean, they should have them stripped away , and that's not just the American riders, but that's any rider. And so it is the way it is. I didn't have any part in that. If they didn't lose their Tour de France titles, what would change? I still won three Tours.

I'm just grateful that I had my time at that period in cycling, and I'm grateful because it wasn't like the '90s. I didn't have to make certain choices. And so in a way, when I look back at my career, I got really lucky, because in the '90s, you're 19 years old, 20 years old, you love cycling, and they slowly seduce you. I'm glad I never had to make that choice. And that's always been my goal, to get cycling to where people don't have to make that choice, they're not forced to make that choice. They're not told "You can't race as a pro cyclist unless you do this." Nobody should have to face that. And that's been, since the '80s, my stance.

I was fortunate I won two races that were very exciting, against Hinault and then '89. Everybody remembers a close race or a comeback. I'm fortunate I was able to race again, because I when I got shot, two years into it I was ready to quit, and I'm glad I didn't give up. I'm glad I had the career I had. I'm just grateful for that.

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