New research into performance is what powers momentum in elite endurance sport to ever faster times, speeds and recovery.
The annual Science & Cycling Conference is a major event in the calendar, which sees the greatest minds in the sport gather in the location where that year’s Tour de France begins and reveal their discoveries from the past 12 months.
Nutrition, training and technology are all covered and a lot of what’s presented trickles down to us, the everyday riders.
Here are five of our favourite takeaways from this year’s science symposium in Lille, France.
On your bicarb
Sodium bicarbonate supplements, specifically the Maurten Bicarb System that 800m Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson credited with giving her a Paris 2024 race-winning boost, have come to the fore recently.
During high-intensity exercise, a rise in hydrogen ions cranks up acidity levels, leading to a drop in power output. Sodium bicarbonate works to reverse that.
It has been used for years, albeit sparingly because it’s known for causing gastric distress. Where Maurten has gained a foothold is that its hydrogel formulation is reportedly gentler on the stomach and so leads to mooted 2-3% performance gains without nausea or gastric bother.
Another recent development is that top cycling teams now often use sodium bicarbonate during longer one-day races and stages, not only shorter time-trials, because it’s been shown to deliver a boost to repeated efforts punctuated by periods of recovery.
A further revelation in Lille was that its boosting capabilities have another strand. “One of the potential mechanisms of riders having good legs that we’ve just looked into are acid-sensing pain receptors,” said Dr Andy Sparks, research innovations manager at Maurten and honorary visiting research fellow at Liverpool John Moores University.
“Sodium bicarbonate is used in a clinical setting in anaesthesia to lessen pain. It also accelerates how quickly anaesthetic drugs work, so it stands to reason that it lowers the perception of effort when cycling, too.”
Sparks also suggests that bicarbonate improves gross efficiency, so you can maintain a higher pace for longer, and there’s evidence that it can alter your ventilatory rate, too, which feeds back into your perceived exertion, so again you can dig deeper and race faster.
Takeaway tips
If you’re going to give sodium bicarbonate a go, including Maurten’s Bicarb System, aim for around 0.3g/kg body mass, so around 21g sodium bicarbonate for a 70kg athlete. Ingest around 2.5 hours before your key ride.
Ill effects
According to Global Market Insights, the smart-ring market, from the likes of Oura, is predicted to grow from $210 million in 2023 to over $1 billion by 2032.
Digital tracking is everywhere, so it stands to reason that the more portable and practical a form that tracking takes, the greater the potential for growth.
But what about ‘growing’ the days you can ride each year? Greater consistency equals greater performance, which is why Israel-Premier Tech performance consultant Dr Daniel Green is mid-way through a study with his team to understand the accuracy of smart rings in predicting illness.
“In the past, [the team] lost 1,200 days of activity in one year,” Green said. “That’s around 40 days of lost training and racing per ride.
Early detection of an illness has the potential to allow us to minimise the severity of the rider's symptoms. It’s also critical to remove the athlete from the team environment where the illness can spread.”
Currently, the team monitors health via a suite of methods, including blood tests. But an objective training tool that’s non-invasive and accurate is the performance panacea.
“Currently, only 52% of the calculated sleep times from the wearables aligned with the self-reported sleep times,” Green said.
“That’s certainly a concern albeit by applying the riders’ questionnaire information into the machine-learning model we’re working on, we could iron out the data.”
That’s not wonderful news for those of you using, in this case, the Oura Ring 4 and lacking a team to smooth out the results.
On the positive side, the ring accurately identifies changes in body temperature, which could be a sign of illness, and the heart rate variability readings noticed potential illness-derived skews, too.
“Altitude is another area where the smart ring noticed a change in blood oxygen saturation levels,” Green said. “This could help with monitoring and tracking how riders acclimatise to the mountains.”
Takeaway tips
Smart rings, such as Oura’s, can potentially identify upcoming illness through body-temperature changes, flagging up that you should reel back, hydrate and sleep well. As for monitoring your sleep for peak performance, the jury remains out.
PPFS? FFS…
What links pro cyclists Wout van Aert, Mauri Vansevenant, Kaden Groves and maybe yourself, even though you’re not aware of it? That’s right, PPFS or prepatellar friction syndrome.
“PPFS is a specific type of anterior knee pain caused by friction between the three soft tissue layers located anterior to the patella, especially in the area of the prepatellar bursa,” said Soudal-QuickStep physiotherapist Manu Wemel.
“In pro cycling, it’s often the result of a crash. In recreational cycling, it’s down to other factors and is often misdiagnosed as patellofemoral pain or quadriceps tendinopathy.”
Groves and van Aert’s diagnosis left them off the bike for weeks, while in 2024 Belgian Vansevenant’s PPFS was so bad he needed surgery.
“PPFS is common, underdiagnosed and a clinically distinct pain not explained by MRI unless pathology is advanced,” said Wemel. “Awareness and early recognition can prevent longer spells off the bike.
PPFS is often the result of anatomical changes, like a crash such as Groves suffered, and extrinsic factors, too, like a poor bike fit, saddle change or even overly tight bib shorts.
Neurological issues, caused by poor pedal technique, can also lead to PPFS. Most of the time, it’s a combination of those things and only presents itself when you’re out riding.
“One of the most common is when you unleash low cadence with high torque,” says Wernel. That might be you when looking to develop top-end power.”
If you’re suffering pain or tenderness at the front of the knee, swelling and discomfort when pedalling, seek out a specialist who’s well-versed in cycling injuries.
Mild to moderate cases often respond to rest, ice and anti-inflammatories, albeit you’ll need a preventative strategy going forward, which might mean another bike fit and strengthening your quads in the gym.
“Taping the knee and physiotherapy targeting mobility and neuromuscular control will also help,” said Wemel.
Takeaway tips
Seek out a cycling specialist if you have a knee issue. If you don’t, your issue could be misdiagnosed and increase time off the saddle.
Extreme lengths
Reduced crank length is a hot topic, with the likes of Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar reducing their crank length in search of aerodynamic optimisation, improved efficiency and greater sustainable speed.
The trend has spread to recreational road cycling, with reports earlier in the year suggesting retailers were selling out of shorter cranks, with most amateurs tempted by the promise of injury reduction due to the opening up of their hips.
Have you joined the growing crank-shrinkage brigade? If you have, that’s great and hopefully it’s working out, says Jim Martin of the University of Utah, but you may not have needed to.
“Using adjustable crank arms, we had subjects ride with crank lengths 120, 145, 170, 195 and 220mm,” says Martin.
“I had it drilled for 245 and 95, too, but when I did pilot data with the 245, my thigh hit my chest and I gave myself a bruise.”
What were the results? When it came to peak power, a 3.9% difference, but only at the extreme ends.
Between a more ‘normal’ range of 145 and 170mm, the difference in power was 1.6%, albeit this decrease from the shorter cranks was mitigated by using a slightly higher cadence without leading to undue fatigue.
Those results were for a four-second sprint. What about a longer effort? Martin’s studies showed that during a 30-second maximum effort, using cranks from 120mm to 220mm, they generated no differences in power output or rate of fatigue per crank revolution. Crank length simply didn’t matter.
“Ultimately, crank length has a relatively small impact on cycling performance, both in terms of maximum power output and endurance,” said Martin.
Takeaway tips
Feel free to reduce crank length for performance and injury-reduction aims. It works for many, but research shows that it might not be the Holy Grail you’re searching for.
Periodise your nutrition
“A big role of our nutrition team is to understand how we can help the riders meet their weight and body composition targets while also keeping them as healthy as possible.”
Those were the words of Israel Premier-Tech’s lead nutritionist Vanessa Zoras when highlighting her team’s work in helping the likes of Derek Gee and Jake Stewart reach peak performance.
In fact, Zoras revealed, it was how the team worked with Gee to safely reduce his weight in search of a Grand Tour personal best.
“In April 2024, we started a 2025 GC project with an athlete who’s given us the green light to share this data,” said Zoras. “We supported the athlete to push the boundaries successfully."
In April 2024, and post-injury, Gee weighed 76kg with 20min maximum power output of 412 watts.
Come that year’s Dauphiné, he’d dropped to 72kg, cranked up his power to 436 watts and won a stage, followed by finishing ninth at the Tour de France.
Throughout the off-season, he added weight to 74.5kg for general health purposes.
“That meant we started 2025 in a strong position as he was lighter than 12 months before,” said Zoras.
“Come February 2025’s altitude camp, he’d sensibly dropped to 71.5kg. A second altitude camp a couple of months later, saw him reach a good goal weight of 70.5kg, which he held for the Giro d’Italia.”
At this point, his 20-minute power tipped over 440 watts. Throw in that lighter weight and Gee finished fourth in Italy, his best GC result ever.
How did they achieve the drop safely? The athlete’s weight was closely monitored with a “moderate calorie deficit implemented with a focus on maintaining carbohydrate availability for training and racing”, according to Zoras.
They used a daily weight and intake tracker to manage the process while comprehensive baseline testing and periodic monitoring were conducted, including blood and bone mineral density work.
Zonas also stressed that if you are losing weight in search of better cycling performance, you must be wary of REDs (relative energy deficiency in sport), where athletes don’t consume enough fuel to support the energy demands of training and racing.
Takeaway tips
Decreasing and increasing your carbohydrate intake to match the demands of your ride is a proven way to hit your racing weight.
A food and training tracker such as the one from Hexis is a proficient way to do so, but be aware of how you feel and you’re performing on the bike.
If you’re feeling overly fatigued, that’s a warning sign you’re cutting too sharply and you must consume more.
