The fuel: Etixx Sports Nutrition
Riders will typically burn an average of 4,000 to 6,000 calories per race day of the Tour de France and finding the time to get these calories - as well as other nutrients - back into the body can be tough.
"Pro riders will have been working with a nutritionist for months, if not years,before embarking on the professional season," explains Charlotte Kennedy, Sports Nutrition Consultant at Etixx. "The team chefs will have detailed diet plans for each competitor, so they will aim to keep nutrition on an even keel during the Tour. Although that typically means loading up for the next day of racing before they've even crossed the finish line," she adds. Etixx, the principal sponsor of the Etixx-Quick-Step pro team, has formulated cutting-edge gels, drinks and bars that contain different carbohydrate forms that release energy at different times, so riders can replenish on the move. You'll often see the pros chugging down small sachets of energy gels andcaffeine-enriched drinks for an added boost in the race and a recovery shake with protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and creatine directly after.
From £1.99 (One Tour de France's worth of Etixx: £533 - see below for an in-depth analysis of this) | Buy Etixx Sports Nutrition
Running total: £10,486
This gives you some idea of how much energy a pro cyclists burns.
Charlotte Kennedy, sports nutrition expert at Etixx, says: "I've done some calculations based on two assumptions; that a rider would spend roughly 85 hours on the bike for the entire Tour, and that they would be aiming to consume 60-90g of carbohydrate per hour.
If this was the case, an example of what a rider might eat per hour is:
An Etixx Isotonic – 30g carbohydrate
An Etixx Energy Bar- 29g carbohydrate
An Etixx Energy Gel- 24g carbohydrate
This creates a total of 83g of carbohydrate per hour. If they were having this every hour, they would be consuming 85 of each product over the course of the Tour.
The total cost of these products are calculated from the price of individual products from Etixx:
Etixx Isotonic - £1.99 x 85 = £169.15
Etixx Energy Bar - £1.99 x 85 = £169.15
Etixx Energy Gel - £2.29 x 85 = £194.65
This makes a total of £532.95"