Tour de France cyclists burn up to 7,000 calories a day so replenishing these stocks is a huge deal. Lunch is served Time for a top up (Credit: Filip Bossuyt)Īnother designated area on each stage is the feed zone. Find a bin or take your wrappers home with you and dispose of them there. ATTENTION! (Yes, we feel like this should be in bold) as everyday cyclists, we should not litter at any point on our rides. It’s a fair compromise reached between a race keen to protect the local environment and riders who don’t want to carry their sticky trash all day. No, they do it all at the same time over the length of a kilometre in a designated zone so that the rubbish can be easily collected rather than being strewn across the pristine French countryside.

Fear not, the riders aren’t showing their displeasure for the local council by mass littering. You will also see riders emptying their pockets of gel and food wrappers at certain points of each stage. As everyday cyclists, we can’t do this as we need that fluid for fuel and unlike professional teams, we can’t afford to grab a new water bottle every time we leave the house. Squeezing out the contents of a bottle or ditching it altogether shaves some valuable weight from their bikes which could then make a difference on a climb or final sprint. But the reason they’re thrown away is simply because every gram matters in the Tour de France. Although a contentious issue over the past few months, these often double up as souvenirs for lucky roadside fans. When the pace starts to ramp up in anticipation of the crucial part of a stage, you will see riders tossing their water bottles from their bikes. As well as the obvious years of training and dedication that go into just turning pro, there are a few other things that Tour de France cyclists do that amateurs don’t.Ĭhucking water bottles away Every gram matters at this level of racing It takes a lot to be a professional cyclist though. Some things the pros do that we don't (Credit: Filip Bossuyt)Ĭycling’s biggest race, the Tour de France, is upon us and that means three weeks of watching the world’s very best strut their stuff.

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