It’s a never-ending debate. How many grams of carbs per hour? Is sodium more important than carbs? Real food or gels? When it comes to cycling nutrition there are certainly more opinions than facts, especially when it comes to the energy demands of a seven-day stage race.
There are few better experts to sift the facts from the hype than the experts at Amacx, our Official Nutrition Partner. To put the myths to bed and to provide the most comprehensive guide to fueling right for seven days of racing in Africa, we created a three-part series. This will help ensure you know what to put into your body, when to consume it, how to train your gut to optimally absorb it and show some examples (like: how the pros fuel and why their strategies aren’t necessarily for you).
This piece is purely focused on Amacx products and therefore relevant to 2025 participants, since this will be the nutrition brand available at the service stations.
Part 1: By the trends, by feel, or by the numbers – what’s really going on in performance cycling nutrition these days?
In a sport where marginal gains define podium places and write names into history books, nutrition science has accelerated significantly in the last decade – moving from instinct to insight. Some riders still fuel by feel, others follow trends, but the sharp end of the peloton is driven by science and data, and the brands that understand it.
Enter Amacx: founded in 2011, it’s a brand championing new generation performance nutrition with science-backed, purpose-driven products that redefine how cyclists think about energy, recovery, and performance.
First off, Amacx challenged the ‘more carbs are better carbs’ trend. Rather, as the trend sees carbs per hour increase over the 120g/h mark, Amacx’s focus has taken a more considered, athlete-first approach, focusing on maximum energy absorption and how optimal carb ratios enable the body to achieve this. Real-world performance is key and the products are formulated based on scientific research married with feedback from athletes on many levels including their pro teams like Team Visma | Lease a Bike, EF Pro Cycling and Q36.5.
The product lines are purpose built around cyclists and are scalable – from the keen rider who is training for their first stage race to a Grand Tour pro, like Tom Pidcock. The range, when unpacked to its simplest form consists of three clearly defined lines, each with its own purpose and benefits:
Energy Line – Balanced fuel for endurance.
Carbohydrate-focused drinks, gels, bars, and chews, each offering ~30 g carbs in a scientifically proven 2:1 glucose-to-fructose ratio. The products within this range enable athletes to absorb up to 90 g of carbs per hour, supporting consistent energy and electrolyte levels (with sodium as the key ingredient) on long rides or training sessions.
Turbo Line – Supercharged for high-intensity efforts.
Higher-grade fuel aimed at the most demanding type of efforts – either high intensity, prolonged duration or a combination of the two – with 40 g carbs per serving in a 1:0.8 glucose-to-fructose ratio. The products within this range (with this ratio) are ideal for feeding between 90g and 120 g carbs/h – more suited to pros and or riders accustomed to high carb intake. If a rider’s target is 90g/h or lower, it’s better to stick to the 2:1 ratio (energy line).
Recovery Line – Built for fast bounce-back with high-quality whey and optimal 2:1 carb-to-protein ratios to accelerate glycogen restoration and muscle repair ahead of another day of racing.
While comparing the fueling strategies of professional athletes and weekend warriors is like comparing a toaster to a bicycle, the impact of professional fuelling strategies on amateurs cannot be denied. “More carbs = better performance, right?” The answer is not so simple, in fact. Especially for the untrained gut.
The recommended intake of c/h for amateurs is 60-90g and 100-120g for professionals, depending on duration and intensity. The numbers may not seem far apart at first glance, however, there’s more than meets the eye. An optimised glucose to fructose ratio allows for maximised absorption with the least amount of gut irritation. The small intestine absorbs carbs through specific transporters: SGLT1 for glucose and GLUT5 for fructose. The glucose receptor can only pass roughly 1g per minute or 60g per hour before becoming saturated. Once the glucose receptor becomes saturated it trips a mechanism that allows the fructose receptor to pass fructose at a slightly lower. If glucose passes at 60g per hour, the burden of consuming more carbohydrates falls on the fructose molecule. In order to optimise the carbohydrate absorption it is important to use both molecules at the right ratios. If riders consume only glucose it collects in the gut and this is what causes gut stress.
For riders with a target of 60-90g per hour, the 2:1 (60g glucose and 30g fructose) ratio is the best bet to achieve results with a highly reduced chance of gut stress – Energy Line. If riders are performing at a high intensity, the 1:0.8 (slightly more than 60g of glucose and around 50g fructose) is recommended to increase the body’s capacity to absorb more carbohydrates – Turbo Line. These would be the building blocks, backed by science and stripped of trends and “gut feel” (pun intended) for a successful fuelling strategy.
But why (and how) do the pros push it to 120g/h+?
Elite riders race for a living, that means pushing their bodies to the limits day in and day out; seeking every possible performance benefit from training and nutrition, and with that comes the risk of the body, and gut blowing up. But when titles are on the line, and countless hours are invested, the risk is often worth the reward for them.
During races, elite riders are effectively working around 80% of VO2 max and more for a long period of time and have a much higher energy demand. This increased energy demand is met through a massively increased consumption of carbs per hour. This ability to consume carbs at such aggressive rates is not achieved overnight and is an important part of elite riders’ training regimes; the reason being that as the system is under stress it becomes more difficult to assimilate carbs.
However, in conclusion, the good news is that the gut is highly trainable and there is enough time ahead of Nedbank Gravel Burn to ensure that guts are trained as well as legs and lungs! In part 2, we’ll unpack, in greater detail, the science behind nutrition preparing for a stage race – gut training and fuelling for training – according to Amacx and how the products work.
To begin your gut training with Amacx, South African riders can shop the entire range at HERE and international riders can shop HERE