Cycling nutrition is one of the most over-discussed and under-applied topics in the sport. Most amateurs know the general principles. Almost none of them act on those principles consistently in training and racing. The gap between knowing and doing is where the performance is.
This is the curated list of Roadman Cycling Podcast episodes on nutrition that consistently move that needle. Listen in order if you can. If you can only choose one, the "Start here" section names the episode that earns priority.
For the synthesised long-form view, What Sports Scientists Say About Cycling Nutrition is the companion article. For the day-to-day practical view, the in-ride nutrition guide and race day nutrition guide cover the specifics.
Why this matters for serious cyclists
Most plateaus in amateur cycling are blamed on training when the cause is nutritional. Hard sessions executed under-fuelled produce lower power, less adaptation, and slower recovery. Easy sessions ridden in a depleted state stretch the recovery window. Weight loss attempted through caloric restriction during a training block undermines the adaptation that the training is trying to build.
The common pattern in the Roadman coaching programme is that working amateurs who arrive after a plateau identify a training problem and discover a fuelling one. Six weeks into structured fuelling on hard sessions, the plateau is gone — and the rider had not changed the training stimulus at all.
The episodes below are the ones that explain why. They are not generic nutrition advice. They are the conversations with World Tour nutritionists, sports scientists, and pros that specifically address the way serious cyclists train and what their fuelling needs to look like as a result.
Start here
If you have one hour, listen to I Lost 9kg Eating More — and Got Faster on the Bike (episode 1). It is Anthony's own story of getting it wrong, getting it right, and the framing pivot most listeners need before any of the more technical episodes land. The takeaway: the calories-in-calories-out model is not how trained cyclists actually optimise body composition.
The curated list
1. I Lost 9kg Eating More — and Got Faster on the Bike (episode 1). The framing episode. Anthony's personal story is the cleanest entry point because it overturns the diet-culture model most amateurs default to. Start here.
2. World Tour Nutritionist — We Got Fuelling Wrong (episode 2035). The structural correction. A World Tour nutritionist on what changed in elite practice and why the old "ride more, eat less" pattern is now seen as a liability rather than a strategy.
3. World Tour Nutritionist — We Got Weight Loss Wrong (episode 2044). The companion episode. Why aggressive caloric restriction during training fails for trained athletes, and what the World Tour now does instead. Critical listening for anyone chasing race weight.
4. Ben Healy's Insane Fuelling Strategy Revealed (episode 2031). The pro case study. Ben Healy's in-race fuelling at the upper end of what current research supports — useful for understanding the ceiling of in-ride carbohydrate tolerance and how it is built.
5. I Tried Eating Like Pidcock for 60 Days — Here's What Happened (episode 14). The lived-experience companion to the pro nutrition episodes. Anthony tests pro-style fuelling at amateur volume and reports honestly on what worked and what did not.
6. Forget What You Eat — It's When You Eat That Changes Everything (episode 2155). The timing episode. Periodised nutrition, fuelling windows, and why timing often matters more than total intake. Aligns with the periodised model used at World Tour level.
7. The One Food That's Slowing Us Down — Sports Nutritionist (episode 2092). A high-density single-topic episode. Worth listening to once and acting on once — most listeners discover at least one habit worth changing.
8. How Champions Eat to Win (episode 2118). A rider-support episode synthesising what the pro nutrition pattern actually looks like across multiple riders. Strong on the practical side.
9. How Cycling Can Sabotage Your Weight Loss — and the Fix (episode 2130). The episode that names a counter-intuitive pattern most amateur cyclists fall into. Riding more while eating less can stall body-composition change for hormonal and recovery reasons. The fix is structural, not motivational.
10. 5 Fixable Reasons You Can't Lose Weight (episode 13). The fixable-reasons format applied to body composition. Concrete, named, actionable causes — and a fix for each.
11. Struggling to Lose Weight? This Is Why (episode 2080). The companion episode for cyclists stuck on body composition. Pairs naturally with episodes 2130 and 13.
12. Weight Loss Simplified — Meal Tips for Busy Cyclists (episode 2198). The practical episode. Specific food-level advice that aligns with the wider Roadman view rather than reverting to generic diet rules.
Topic context — why these episodes matter
There are two distinct audiences inside this list and both are well served. The first is the rider whose performance has plateaued and who suspects, correctly, that the cause is fuelling. The second is the rider chasing race weight or body composition who has tried caloric restriction, found it cost watts, and is looking for a more sustainable model.
Both audiences arrive at the same answer in the Roadman archive. Fuel the work properly, periodise nutrition around training demand, treat body composition as a periodised goal addressed in a defined window rather than a constant pressure. The difference between this view and the cycling internet's default is significant — and the episodes above are the conversations that map the gap with named experts.
The other position the archive converges on is gut training. Carbohydrate tolerance is a programmable adaptation. Athletes targeting 90g per hour in a race who train at 60g per hour pay the price on the day. The fix is to build gut capacity in training over weeks. This is now standard practice at the top of the sport and the relevant episodes above cover the practical protocol.
Where to go next
For the long-form synthesis, What Sports Scientists Say About Cycling Nutrition maps the consensus across the experts in this list. For the day-to-day translation, the in-ride nutrition guide covers the practical fuelling targets, and the fuelling calculator translates them into your specific carbs-per-hour figure based on body weight and intensity. The Not Done Yet coaching programme treats nutrition as part of the integrated plan — fuelling, body composition, periodised intake — rather than a separate concern.
The summary, if you only take one thing: pick episode 2035 today, listen to it on your next easy ride, and ask yourself what your last hard session was actually fuelled with. The first number worth changing is the carbs-per-hour figure on the next interval session.