How an energy drink has fuelled epic victories on the world stage Chris Froome credits his famous 80km solo ride on stage 19 of the 2018 Giro D’Italia as his greatest feat on a bike. It’s unsurprising. Many inside the cycling world consider it one of the most sensational days in Grand Tour history. James Morton remembers it well. And so he should. He is one of the people responsible for fuelling Froome’s heroics. Science in Sport now benefits from his expertise but at the time he was Head of Nutrition at Team Sky, and the story behind it is so impactful it can almost be categorised as divine intervention. Froome was 3 minutes, 22 seconds behind Simon Yates in the pursuit of the Maglia Rosa leading up to stage 19. The Colle delle Finestre, a brutal 18.5km climb, sat in the middle of the stage and represented the only realistic option to attack the leaders with two stages to go. If you’re a cycling enthusiast, you’ll know that the Giro is typically associated with cold weather. You’ll also probably know that the cold increases carbohydrate metabolism. In other words, the colder it is, the more carbs you need, and because of this the challenge for Team Sky in fuelling its riders became more about strategy. “We knew the race was going to have some pretty big back-to-back mountain stages such as stages 17-20,” Morton recalls, “which would all be reliant on carbohydrate as a fuel and would amount to between 4000-6000 kcal days.” It’s one of the greatest challenges in any sport; how to quickly, conveniently and adequately fuel athletes in the throes of competition to maintain optimum performance levels. On a bike, the challenge is incomparably magnified. “We wanted a fuelling strategy that was easy to take practically, as opposed to unwrapping food when the race was going to be pretty intense. Consuming more carbohydrates from fluids would be a more practical solution during really high-intensity days.” The idea, Morton continued, was to provide a strategy where 500 ml of fluid was equivalent to the same amount of carbohydrate as four rice cakes (approximately 80-100g). The impracticality of munching on rice cakes while riding is obvious, and for endurance athletes this level of carb intake is required every hour, hence why it becomes more important to find convenient ways to quickly take-in carbs as opposed to eating them. Many energy supplements promise big, deliver little and come with temporary but distracting side effects, which can be all-consuming for a cyclist in the saddle. Whatever Morton and his team conceived, it had to be isotonic with a neutral pH to increase the ability to digest it and absorb the carbohydrate with minimal feelings of gastrointestinal discomfort. It was some task, but around February of 2018 SiS Beta Fuel was created and trialled at warm-up races and training camps in readiness for use by Team Sky riders at that year’s Giro. It was imperative for riders to get used to consuming such a concentrated carbohydrate source – the drink contains 18g per 100ml, which means an 18% carbohydrate solution. For context, most sports drinks are 4-8% solutions and contain only 4-8g of carbohydrate per 100ml. Since its appearance on the world stage SiS Beta Fuel has been refined, further separating it from the pack and cementing its leading position as the most scientifically superior sports fuel on the market. Relaunched in June of 2021, it now has a brand new optimised 1:0.8 ratio of maltodextrin to fructose, that when compared to traditional 2:1 ratio, is proven to enhance power output, increase carbohydrate oxidation efficiency, and limits gastrointestinal discomfort. The new SiS Beta Fuel range is leading a revolution in endurance fuelling. Already a favourite of INEOS Grenadiers, the team has been instrumental in testing and developing the new formula since 2020, fuelling Tao Geoghegan Hart to his first Grand Tour victory in the Giro that year. Since then, Science in Sport has published groundbreaking science that challenges previous thinking about high carbohydrate and endurance nutrition – and how to fuel winning performances. In the first study of its kind, SiS tested feeding athletes with 120g of Science in Sport Beta Fuel per hour, singularly, and combined across our patented range of gels, chews and drinks. The previously recommended intake for endurance fuelling was 90g per hour and the results are something that has never been seen before: Even after 3 hours of sustained effort 50% of energy used was from the SiS Beta Fuel, rather than the body’s own fuel stores, with no cross-over from carbohydrate to fat usage taking place The 120g carbohydrate intake can be achieved from our drink, gel or jelly chew, or any combination of the three Athletes were using 1.5gm of carbohydrate per minute, the highest rates of carbohydrate oxidation ever reported, and had no stomach upset They were able to sustain high performance intensity, with lower perceived effort. For training and competition of 2 – 2.5 hours or more, SiS Beta Fuel is the next generation of endurance fuelling. SiS Beta Fuel has evolved into a world-leading whole fuelling strategy for endurance athletes of all levels. It now includes the Dual Source Energy Drink, Dual Source Energy Gel, Dual Source Energy Gel + Nootropics, and Dual Source Energy Chew. Explore more here. ____________________________________________________________________________ Read: The new SiS product claimed to be behind Froome’s Finestre success How Chris Froome won Giro d’Italia thanks to ‘spectacular’ stage 19 victory Chris Froome: ‘That was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done on a bike’ 80KM alone: How Chris Froome’s Solo Attack Turned The Giro D’Italia On Its Head Written By Nick Burt In a previous life Nick played American football professionally before becoming a secondary school teacher. Nowadays he works as a freelance copywriter where amongst other things he gets to write about his first love – sports. In his spare time, he lifts weights, plays and coaches baseball (which he calls his retirement sport), and travels with his wife to as many countries as he can.
