Ten stages in, and I've spent the week working my phone — calling contacts, texting people at the finish lines — to find out what's actually in the bottles and gels riders are reaching for this year. Today: a green vegetable tied to the green jersey, Tadej's custom gel, and a fuel category most of the sport hasn't heard of yet.
I've been calling and texting all my insider folks — and sending Christian Vande Velde spying at the stage finishes. What I've got for you today: secret gels made with lactate, how the green jersey is using broccoli sprouts to crush the sprints (coincidence that both are green? I think not), and more.
Broccoli for the Green Jersey
Nomio is the top trending performance product this year. Mads Pedersen has been using it for over a year and loves it. Coincidence he's now in the green jersey? I think not.
Nomio comes from Sweden — it's 6 lbs of broccoli sprouts concentrated into a ready-to-drink shot. You take it 2 to 3 hours before your training or stage start, and the athletes all say they feel less lactic acid buildup. Without getting too deep into the science: by producing less lactic acid, you can hold your maximum effort longer in those fast sprint-finish efforts over the last 5K. It was also the most popular new product at the Hyrox World Champs last month — so it works for longer 60-minute efforts too.
Tadej's "Secret" Electrolyte Gel
What do you do when you're descending the Tourmalet at 75 km/h? If you're Tadej, you reach for the electrolyte gel that was custom-made for you. Just a silver package and a red sticker — exactly what Tadej pulled out of his pocket.
You can't get this gel anywhere but The Feed. I know I always say I hunt around and find you the exclusive, insider stuff. If this isn't it, I don't know what is. Plus, I've put together a 6-pack of the three different gels Tadej is using at the Tour.
Amacx Tart Cherry Drink (now gummies)
If you see a Visma or EF rider at the finish, they're pounding a tart cherry juice from a baby blue drink box. And it's not just the Amacx teams — I've seen Ineos doing it from a plastic bottle, and Tadej is using the Enervit cherry powder the same way. If you want to try it, grab the Amacx one: it's ready to drink, and I keep 4 in my fridge at all times. It's refreshing, with 30g of carbs and 125mg of anthocyanins — the anti-inflammatory compounds that give cherries their color — to kickstart your recovery. The science is solid on this. That's why every rider is doing it.
I have another exclusive here too: we just got the Amacx Tart Cherry as a delicious gummy bar with the same 125mg of anthocyanins. Many of the riders are using it before bed, for the same reason athletes take Dream Shot before bed — it's a natural melatonin producer, without actual melatonin, and helps your recovery.
Maurten Bicarb
I haven't seen any riders eating a bowl of bicarb mid-race like Mike Woods did a few years ago, but it's everywhere. I'd say the majority of riders are now using bicarb on certain days. In the Tour it matters, because it can add water weight the next day — so the top GC guys only use it before the rest day, since they don't want to carry even one extra pound of water. The sprinters are all over it, and so are the riders hunting stage wins. I guarantee most of them will be using it on the second-to-last day before Alpe d'Huez.
More Oxygen Is Key
The best deal of the Tour is also our top-selling performance booster. I recommend this to pretty much every athlete I help with nutrition. The reason: it works, and it's easy. Two pills in the morning, ideally every day. The product is SwissRX Nitric Oxide Pro. More oxygen is still key to staying on top of your efforts and not cracking. By boosting your body's nitric oxide levels, you feel it in your legs — you push, and you can keep pushing, staying on top of the oxygen delivery you need.
Staying Cool
Tadej has a van at the finish line with the seats removed and a giant ice bath inside. The other thing I've heard being used on the team buses is palm cooling — and Narwhal is the best option out there. More and more riders are also measuring their core body temperature with the CORE sensor, and I've seen more teams than ever doing sweat rate monitoring with patches and reusable devices like hDrop, so they know precisely how to rehydrate after each stage.
Lactate as a Fuel
I've buried the lede a bit, because the biggest secret story at the Tour is riders using new gels with lactate as a fuel source. They combine it with glucose and fructose, but the introduction of lactate is going to be the biggest thing you'll hear about for the next year or more.
We've been involved with these products for over two years, after being introduced to them by Iñigo San Millán (formerly Tadej's coach) and Prof. George Brooks from Berkeley, the world's leading authority on lactate. Dr. Brooks explained it to me and showed me tests: lactate is already being heavily oxidized — used as energy — in as little as 5 minutes. And it hits peak utilization at around 15 minutes, compared to 30 minutes for fructose and 45 minutes for glucose.
There are no lactate gels available yet, but I can promise you they're coming soon. Sign up here to be the first invited to try them when they land.
