Here's the thing nobody tells you about race-day nutrition: the riders who bonk at mile 60 didn't fail during the race. They failed three days before it, sitting on the sofa, without a plan. They winged it. They always wing it. And they always pay the same price — standing on the side of the road at kilometre 90, legs empty, staring at a power meter that reads half of what it should.
The fix is entirely within your control. A race-day nutrition plan isn't complicated. It's specific, it's practised, and it covers every hour from 48 hours before the start to the moment you cross the line. I'm going to walk you through building one from scratch — the same framework that Asker Jeukendrup's research underpins and that World Tour nutritionists like Sam Impey apply with elite riders every single week.
No guessing. No winging it. Just a plan that works on the road, not just on paper.
This is cycling nutrition at its most practical — everything below has been tested on the road, not just in the lab.
The 48-Hour Pre-Race Carbohydrate Load
Let me be really clear about this: your race doesn't start at the start line. It starts two days out.
Your muscles hold roughly 400 to 600 grams of glycogen when fully loaded. That's enough fuel for about 90 minutes of hard racing. After that, you're relying entirely on what you eat during the effort. The bigger the tank you start with, the bigger your buffer when things get hard — and things always get hard.
The protocol is straightforward. For the 48 hours before your event, increase your carbohydrate intake to 8 to 10 grams per kilogram of body weight per day. For a 75 kg rider, that's 600 to 750 grams of carbohydrate across the day. That sounds like a lot, and it is. You'll feel like you're eating constantly. That's normal.
Here's what that actually looks like in practice:
- Breakfast: Large bowl of porridge with honey, banana, and a glass of orange juice. White toast with jam on the side.
- Mid-morning: Rice cakes with honey or a couple of energy bars.
- Lunch: Large portion of white rice or pasta with a light sauce, some chicken, a bread roll.
- Afternoon: More rice cakes, fruit, a sports drink sipped through the day.
- Dinner: Pasta with a tomato-based sauce (low fat), bread, fruit for dessert.
- Evening: Another small bowl of porridge or a couple of white toast slices with honey.
The key word is familiar. This is not the time to try a new restaurant. This is not the time to eat a vindaloo because your mate recommends the place around the corner from the hotel. Stick to foods your stomach knows. White carbohydrates, low fibre, low fat, spread across the full 48 hours.
The mistake most people make is stuffing themselves at the pre-race dinner. One enormous pasta bowl the night before doesn't load glycogen — it loads your gut. You sleep badly, wake up bloated, and start the race already uncomfortable. Spread the carbs. Small, frequent meals. Let the loading happen gradually.
Drop fibre intake in the last 24 hours. You want low-residue food going in so there's nothing sitting in your GI tract on race morning. No bran, no heavy vegetables, no massive salads. Save the roughage for Monday.
Race-Morning Breakfast
Your liver glycogen depletes overnight while you sleep. The race-morning meal tops it back up without overloading your stomach. Get the timing and the composition right, and you start with a full tank. Get it wrong, and you're either running on empty or dealing with cramps before kilometre 20.
When: Three to four hours before the start. Set your alarm, eat, and go back to bed if you need to. The three-hour gap gives your stomach time to empty and your blood sugar time to stabilise.
How much: 2 to 3 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight. For a 75 kg rider, that's 150 to 225 grams of carbohydrate.
What works:
- White rice with honey and a sliced banana — this is the World Tour standard for a reason
- Porridge made with water, topped with jam and banana
- White toast with peanut butter and honey
- Pancakes with maple syrup (if you've tested them before)
What doesn't work:
- A full English. Eggs, bacon, sausage, beans — that's post-race food. Fat and protein slow digestion and sit in your stomach.
- High-fibre cereal. Bran flakes before a race is asking for trouble.
- Anything you haven't eaten before a hard training session. Race morning is not the day to experiment.
Drink 500 millilitres of water or a weak electrolyte drink with breakfast. Not a litre. Not nothing. Just enough to start hydrated without needing a bathroom stop on the start line.
The Last 60 Minutes Before the Gun
This window is about topping up, not loading up. You've already done the heavy lifting over the past 48 hours and at breakfast. Now it's small, precise additions.
30 to 45 minutes before the start: One gel or a small handful of energy chews — 20 to 30 grams of easily digestible carbohydrate. Sip a sports drink. Don't down a bottle.
Caffeine timing: This is where most people get it wrong. Caffeine peaks in your bloodstream about 45 to 60 minutes after ingestion. If you take it too early, the effect is already fading when the race gets hard. If you take it on the start line, you won't feel it for the first hour.
Take your caffeine 45 to 60 minutes before the start. I'll cover dosing in detail below, but for now: time it so it peaks when the effort starts, not when you're still pinning your number on.
In-Race Fuelling: Scaling by Duration
Here's where it gets really interesting, because the fuelling plan changes dramatically depending on how long you're out there. A 90-minute crit and a five-hour sportive are completely different nutritional challenges. Here's how to scale it.
Under 2 Hours
For events under two hours, your glycogen stores — topped up from the carb load — will cover most of the demand. You still need to eat, but the targets are moderate.
Target: 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrate per hour.
Strategy: One gel every 20 to 25 minutes, washed down with water. Or a concentrated drink mix that delivers the carbs through your bottles. Keep it simple. You don't need bars or real food. The effort is too intense for solid food to sit well anyway.
Start eating at 20 minutes. Not when you feel tired. Not when the pace drops. From the first quarter-hour. By the time you feel hungry on a short race, you're already behind.
2 to 3 Hours
This is where fuelling starts to become the differentiator between finishing strong and fading in the final 30 minutes.
Target: 60 to 80 grams of carbohydrate per hour.
Strategy: Alternate between gels and a carbohydrate drink. One gel every 20 minutes, sipping the drink in between. If you can tolerate them, energy chews or a rice cake in the middle hour give you some variety and help prevent flavour fatigue from sweet gels.
Set a timer on your head unit. Every 20 minutes, eat something. This is the single most practical piece of advice in this entire article. When you're in a bunch, focussed on the wheel in front of you, the road furniture, the crosswind — eating drops off the radar. A timer brings it back.
3 to 5 Hours
Now the glycogen buffer is gone. You're racing on what you eat and drink from this point. The research from Jeukendrup's lab is clear: trained athletes can oxidise up to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour when they use a glucose-fructose blend at a 2:1 ratio. Most of the riders I see are eating 40 grams an hour and wondering why they blow up at hour four.
Target: 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour, depending on your gut tolerance.
Strategy: Mixed sources. Gels, drink mix, bars, rice cakes, energy chews — rotate through them. No single product for five hours. Your mouth gets tired of the same texture and taste, and when your mouth gets tired, you stop eating. That's when the bonk comes.
Build a plan: what you'll eat in each hour, which pocket it goes in, when you'll switch from solid to liquid. Write it on a strip of tape on your top tube if you need to.
5+ Hours (Gran Fondos, Ultra Events)
At this duration, fuelling is the race. Your fitness got you to the start line. Your nutrition determines whether you finish.
Target: 80 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour for the first three to four hours, potentially dropping to 60 to 70 grams per hour later as intensity falls and fat oxidation picks up more of the workload.
Strategy: Everything above, plus real food. Savoury options become important after four hours because flavour fatigue from sweet gels is a genuine performance limiter — Tim Podlogar's work on carbohydrate periodisation during ultra events has reinforced this. Sandwiches, rice balls with soy sauce, salted potatoes, savoury rice cakes. Alternate between sweet and savoury. Keep liquid carbs flowing between solid food.
At feed zones, grab what you've planned for. Don't rely on what's available unless you've checked beforehand. An unfamiliar gel at hour five can wreck a stomach that's been running perfectly.
The 2:1 Glucose-to-Fructose Ratio
Let me break this down, because this ratio gets thrown around a lot without people understanding why it matters.
Your small intestine absorbs glucose through a transporter called SGLT1. That transporter maxes out at about 60 grams per hour. For years, that was the ceiling — 60 grams per hour, full stop.
Then Jeukendrup showed that fructose uses a completely separate transporter — GLUT5. If you combine glucose and fructose, you're using two doorways into the bloodstream instead of one. The optimal ratio from the research is roughly 2 parts glucose to 1 part fructose. With this blend, trained athletes can absorb and oxidise up to 90 grams — and in some cases beyond 100 grams — of carbohydrate per hour.
In practical terms: check the label on your gels and drink mix. You want maltodextrin (which is a glucose polymer) combined with fructose. If the label only lists maltodextrin with no fructose source, you're capped at 60 grams per hour no matter how much you eat. Most of the major sports nutrition brands now offer 2:1 ratio products. Use them.
Caffeine — Timing, Dosing, and When to Split It
Caffeine is one of the most studied ergogenic aids in sport. The performance benefit for endurance is well-established — typically 2 to 4 per cent improvement in time-trial performance, which across a 100-mile sportive could mean 10 to 20 minutes.
Dose: 3 to 6 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. For a 75 kg rider, that's 225 to 450 milligrams. A standard double espresso is roughly 120 to 150 milligrams, so you're looking at two to three strong coffees.
Timing: 45 to 60 minutes before the start. Caffeine reaches peak plasma concentration in that window.
When to split the dose: If your event is over three hours, consider taking half the dose before the start and half at the midpoint — usually via a caffeinated gel at the two-hour mark. This maintains the ergogenic effect through the back half of the race, when the fatigue is deepest and the benefit is greatest.
What not to do: Don't load up on caffeine if you never use it. If you're not a regular caffeine user, 450 milligrams will give you a heart rate spike, GI distress, and anxiety on the start line. Race day is not the time to discover your caffeine tolerance. Use the doses you've practised in training.
And here's the good news: if you are a regular coffee drinker, you don't need to cut caffeine in the week before the race. The old advice about "caffeine withdrawal to increase sensitivity" has largely been debunked. Just use your normal intake, time it correctly, and you'll get the benefit.
Hydration — Targets, Sodium, and Temperature
Hydration is individual. There is no single number that works for everyone. But there are ranges that work for most people, and here's how to find yours.
Baseline target: 500 to 750 millilitres per hour in moderate conditions (15 to 20 degrees). In heat above 25 degrees, push towards 750 to 1,000 millilitres per hour.
Sodium matters. On any ride over 90 minutes, plain water isn't enough. You lose sodium through sweat — typically 500 to 1,500 milligrams per litre of sweat, depending on the individual. If you drink only water, you dilute your blood sodium without replacing it. The result is hyponatraemia, which at its mildest causes headache and confusion, and at its worst is a medical emergency.
Add 500 to 800 milligrams of sodium per litre of fluid. That's an electrolyte tablet in each bottle or a drink mix that includes sodium. In hot conditions or if you're a salty sweater (white salt marks on your kit after a ride), go higher.
How to find your sweat rate: Weigh yourself before and after a one-hour ride at race intensity, with no food or fluid intake during the ride. Each kilogram of weight lost equals roughly one litre of sweat. That's your hourly sweat rate in those conditions. Do the test on a warm day and a cool day to get a range.
The day before: Aim for pale straw-coloured urine by the evening before the race. Don't overhydrate — sipping water constantly for 24 hours just sends you to the bathroom. Drink normally with meals, add an electrolyte tablet to a bottle through the afternoon, and check the colour before bed.
Gut Training — The Four-to-Six-Week Protocol
Here's the thing nobody tells you about eating 80 or 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour: your gut can't do it on race day unless you've trained it to do it in the weeks before.
Your intestines are adaptable. The SGLT1 and GLUT5 transporters I mentioned earlier — their expression increases when you consistently expose them to higher carbohydrate loads during exercise. Sam Impey explained this on the podcast: your gut upregulates its absorptive capacity in response to demand, just like your muscles grow in response to training. But it takes time.
The protocol:
- Weeks 1-2: During your longer training rides, aim for 40 to 50 grams of carbohydrate per hour using the products you plan to race with. Focus on tolerance — if your stomach handles it without distress, you're on track.
- Weeks 3-4: Increase to 60 to 70 grams per hour. Start practising at higher intensities — tempo efforts, group rides, any session that pushes heart rate closer to race conditions.
- Weeks 5-6: Push towards your race target — 80 to 90 grams per hour on your hardest sessions. By now your gut should handle it comfortably. If it doesn't, scale back 10 grams and try again next week.
Rules during gut training:
- Always pair gels with water. Concentrated carbohydrate without fluid pulls water into the gut through osmosis and causes cramping.
- Use the exact same products you'll race with. Different gels have different compositions, concentrations, and textures. Your gut adapts to what you give it.
- Practise eating at race intensity, not just on steady endurance rides. Blood flow diverts from the gut to working muscles during hard efforts, which changes how your stomach handles food.
If you skip gut training and try to eat 90 grams an hour on race day, you'll spend the second half of the race looking for a hedge. It's fixable, but it takes four to six weeks of consistent practice.
Troubleshooting: When the Plan Breaks
Plans break. That's racing. The skill is knowing what to do when they do.
Bonking
You know the moment. Your legs feel like concrete, your power drops off a cliff, and the world goes slightly grey at the edges. Bonking is a glycogen crisis — you've run out of stored carbohydrate, and your body is now trying to run on fat, which it can only burn at a fraction of the rate.
The fix: Stop the bleeding immediately. Take two gels back to back with water. Sip a sugary drink — a Coke from a feed zone is a real asset here because the sugar hits your bloodstream fast and the caffeine helps. Reduce your intensity. You won't fully recover during the race, but you can stabilise enough to finish if you act quickly.
The real fix: Don't get there. Start eating at 20 minutes, eat every 20 minutes, and stick to your planned intake. By the time you feel the bonk coming, you're already 30 minutes behind on fuel.
Cramps
Cramping during a race is usually a combination of fatigue, sodium depletion, and intensity above what you've trained for. The old "eat a banana" advice is essentially useless — potassium deficiency is almost never the cause.
In the moment: Ease off the intensity, take sodium — an electrolyte capsule or a heavy pinch of salt dissolved in water. Stretch the affected muscle gently if you can do it safely on the bike.
Prevention: Adequate sodium in your bottles (500 to 800 milligrams per litre), pacing that respects your fitness, and enough training at race intensity to condition the neuromuscular system.
Nausea
Nausea during a race is almost always a gut-stress problem. Either you've eaten too much too quickly, eaten without enough water, or the intensity has redirected so much blood away from your digestive system that it can't process what's in there.
The fix: Switch to liquid carbohydrate only. A concentrated drink mix is easier to absorb than gels or bars when your gut is under stress. Small sips, frequently. If you can't swallow anything, rinse your mouth with a carbohydrate solution — Jeukendrup's research showed that the oral receptors alone send a signal to the brain that reduces perceived effort, even without the carbs reaching your stomach.
Do not stop eating entirely. I know that's counterintuitive when you feel sick. But the energy debt compounds every minute you go without fuel. A reduced intake is always better than zero intake.
The "I Can't Eat" Problem
Some riders hit a point — usually around hour three or four — where the thought of another gel makes them want to throw up. This is flavour fatigue combined with gut stress, and it's completely normal.
The fix: Switch textures and flavours. If you've been on sweet gels, switch to savoury — a rice cake, some salted crisps from a feed zone, a small sandwich. If you can't manage solid food, switch to a drink mix with a neutral or savoury flavour. The point is to keep carbohydrate coming in, even if the source changes.
This is why your plan should include at least three different types of fuel. Gels, drink mix, and one solid option. Variety isn't indulgence — it's insurance.
Putting It Together: A 100-Mile Sportive Example
Let me make this concrete. Here's what a full nutrition plan looks like for a 75 kg rider targeting a 100-mile sportive with a five-hour finish time.
48 hours before: 8 grams per kilogram per day = 600 grams of carbohydrate per day. White rice, pasta, bread, porridge, sports drink, energy bars. Low fibre, low fat, spread across six small meals.
Race morning (4:30 AM for an 8:00 AM start): 2.5 grams per kilogram = 187 grams of carbohydrate. A large bowl of porridge with honey and banana (80 g carbs), two slices of white toast with jam (50 g carbs), a banana (27 g carbs), 500 ml of sports drink (30 g carbs). Total: roughly 187 g. Water to wash it down.
6:45 AM: Coffee — a double espresso, roughly 150 milligrams of caffeine.
7:30 AM (30 minutes before start): One gel (25 g carbs), sipping from a sports drink bottle.
Hour 1 (8:00–9:00): Two gels at 20 and 40 minutes (50 g), half a bottle of drink mix (30 g). Total: 80 g carbs. 500 ml fluid.
Hour 2 (9:00–10:00): Two gels at 20 and 40 minutes (50 g), finish the bottle (30 g). Refill at a water stop. Total: 80 g carbs.
Hour 3 (10:00–11:00): One gel at 20 minutes, one rice cake at 40 minutes (50 g combined), drink mix throughout (30 g). Caffeinated gel at the 40-minute mark — the second caffeine hit. Total: 80 g carbs.
Hour 4 (11:00–12:00): Switch to alternating between gels and savoury food — a small sandwich section, salted rice cake. Two gels plus one savoury item (60–70 g), drink mix (30 g). Total: roughly 90 g carbs.
Hour 5 (12:00–1:00 PM): Back to gels and drink mix for easy intake as fatigue sets in. Two gels (50 g), drink mix (30 g). Total: 80 g carbs.
Total in-race carbohydrate: Roughly 410 grams across five hours = 82 grams per hour average.
Total fluid: Roughly 3 to 3.5 litres across five hours, each bottle containing an electrolyte tablet (500 mg sodium per litre).
That's it. It fits on a strip of tape on your top tube. Print it, stick it, and follow it.
The Bit Where I Mention the Community
If you want to build a plan like this with feedback from riders who've actually tested it at events — and with access to the fuelling calculator that does the maths for you — the Roadman Cycling community on Skool is where that happens. Real questions, real answers, and nobody judging you for asking whether you should eat a gel with the cap still on.
The Bottom Line
Race-day nutrition is not complicated. It's specific, it's practised, and it's followed. The riders who get it right aren't smarter than you. They aren't genetically gifted with iron stomachs. They just sat down before the race, wrote the plan, trained their gut, and then actually followed it when the flag dropped.
Start eating at 20 minutes. Eat every 20 minutes. Use the right carbohydrate mix. Train your gut in the weeks before. Time your caffeine properly. Carry enough sodium. And never, ever try something new on race day.
The plan is fixable. The bonk is preventable. And there's no reason you should ever stand on the side of the road at kilometre 90 wondering what went wrong. You know exactly what to do now. Go and do it.