THE SHORT ANSWER
Tim Podlogar, sports nutritionist, carbohydrate metabolism researcher, has appeared on the Roadman Cycling Podcast 2 times. Here's where Podlogar lands on hydration. The positions below are drawn from those conversations, quoted directly.
WHO IS TIM PODLOGAR?
Tim Podlogar is the Slovenian sports nutritionist whose peer-reviewed work on high-rate glucose-fructose fuelling has shaped how the World Tour, Ironman field, and serious age-group athletes now fuel long efforts. His research on carbohydrate transporter saturation, on-bike absorption rates, and gut training matters because it provides the experimental basis for what every modern cyclist's fuelling plan now looks like. For Roadman listeners chasing high-carb fuelling protocols without GI distress, his work is one of the most-cited research starting points in cycling.
PODLOGAR ON HYDRATION
Podlogar’s key positions on hydration.
- Glucose-fructose ratios (typically around 1:0.8) bypass single-transporter saturation and allow 90–120 g/hr absorption.
- Gut training is real and trainable — chronic exposure to high-carb fuelling shifts what the gut can absorb without distress.
- On-bike fuelling is now the single most-improvable nutrition variable for amateur endurance athletes.
- Race-day fuelling has to be rehearsed in long training rides for weeks — gut tolerance is not a race-day decision.
- Periodised fuelling around training (low-carb easy, high-carb hard) supports body-composition goals without compromising sessions.
IN PODLOGAR’S OWN WORDS
Verbatim from Tim Podlogar’s appearances on the podcast.
“Most gels were still malt to dextrin only or glucose only. There were no fructose in them and there were a few brands that actually had fructose in them but were 2:1 ratio. But then already at the time this was I'm talking about 2017 2018 it was pretty clear the research was already out there for a long time that perhaps the ratio of 1 to 0.8 is the ratio that should work for most people.”
“If you just perform well at a low body mass and don't have struggles with eating or keeping that body weight, I think that's probably what you are after. Whereas if you are really struggling to keep the body weight low no matter what they do and they need to starve themselves then they should ask themselves a question: what happens if I eat a little bit more, I'm a bit heavier, but then I will finally be able to do the training sessions that I really struggled with before.”
“When you go to the extremes what happens is also your energy expenditure outside the bike will go down, the recovery will worsen, and everything just shuts down, the body is in a survival mode. And then it also makes you binge eat perhaps on certain days and it's called a yo-yo effect. It's like well described in the literature.”
“I probably wouldn't advise to go more than like 500 six to 700 max of a deficit in a day. especially if you have the next day or the next session is hard because you would really like probably make too much damage and you would not recover for the next one.”
HEAR IT ON THE PODCAST
Episodes where Tim Podlogar covers hydration and related ground.
FREQUENTLY ASKED
What does Tim Podlogar say about hydration?
Tim Podlogar, sports nutritionist, carbohydrate metabolism researcher, has appeared on the Roadman Cycling Podcast 2 times. Here's where Podlogar lands on hydration. The positions below are drawn from those conversations, quoted directly.
What is Podlogar's main point on hydration?
Glucose-fructose ratios (typically around 1:0.8) bypass single-transporter saturation and allow 90–120 g/hr absorption.
Which Roadman Cycling Podcast episodes cover Tim Podlogar on hydration?
Podlogar discusses hydration in these episodes: "Race Weight & Carb Timing Mistakes | Roadman Cycling Podcast", "How Pro Cyclists Stay Lean | Roadman Cycling Podcast".
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EXPLORE THE TOPIC
Cycling Nutrition— The Complete Guide →OTHER EXPERTS ON HYDRATION