From Lactate Gels to 1x Drivetrains: The 2026 Endurance Trends

2026 was the fastest Tour ever

The 2026 Tour de France set a record average speed of 43.328 km/h, the fastest in the race's history.

That's almost 0.5 km/h faster than the previous year's 42.849 km/h, and more than 2 km/h faster than 2023's 41.134 km/h in just three years.

It isn't only the riders' physical ability behind this speed.

What and how much to eat during the race, how to fight the heat, which equipment to choose: it's the result of optimising all of it.

In this article I round up the fuelling, training and equipment trends that got people talking in road racing and triathlon in 2026.

At the end of each section, I give a three-level verdict on whether we amateur riders should copy it.

• ◎ Copy it: the effect is clear and it's easy to adopt

• △ Wait and see: much talked about, but it's still hard to judge the effect or the cost

• × Not needed: driven by pro-specific circumstances; ordinary riders don't need it

  
  

Fuelling 1: 120 g of carbs per hour is now the norm

Not long ago, the guideline for carbohydrate during a race was 60 g per hour. Before 2010, pros are said to have taken around 30–60 g.

Now, WorldTour team nutritionists say it's rare for a rider to take less than 120 g at a Grand Tour.

At the 2026 Tour, even higher figures emerged.

Vingegaard and van Aert reportedly took 140 g an hour on the hardest stages,

and Jonas Abrahamsen aimed for 160 g.

160 g is like eating a big bag of gummies every hour, for five hours.

Pogačar has also revealed that he took 130 g in the spring Classics.

How can they eat that much?

The key is combining glucose and fructose.

The two sugars are absorbed through separate "entrances" in the gut, so combining them greatly increases how much you can absorb per hour.

On top of that, riders do "gut training", gradually increasing their intake in training to get their gut used to it.

In 2026 the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale), through a sports nutrition project bringing together scientists and WorldTour teams,

officially documented this change for the first time. Researchers have also called

for the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) nutrition guidelines, in use since 2016, to be revised.

There are caveats, though. More than 80% of studies involve recreational or young athletes,

and less than 5% involve elite riders. There's also data showing that in the heat, the efficiency of burning carbohydrate drops by 20–30%.

Verdict for amateurs: ◎ Copy it (but gradually)

Don't jump straight to 120 g. First, get to the point where you can reliably take 60 g an hour with glucose + fructose products.

▶ Related: how to use SiS Beta Fuel, which blends glucose and fructose at 1:0.8, is explained in detail in"A Fuelling Guide Built on SiS Beta Fuel".

The basics are to increase the amount little by little on longer sessions, and to drink 500–750 ml of fluid per hour alongside it.

Fuelling 2: Pogačar's secret weapon, the lactate gel

The fuel that got the most attention at the 2026 Tour was the lactate gel. The team and the manufacturer officially confirmed that Pogačar and UAE Team Emirates XRG

had been using C2:1PRO Lactate Gel Mix, developed by Italy's Enervit.

Lactate isn't a "fatigue substance" after all

"The burning in your legs is caused by lactic acid." Many of us were taught that.

In reality, though, lactate is a fuel that muscles, the heart and the brain can use directly for energy.

This has been shown by the "lactate shuttle theory" proposed in 1985 by Professor George Brooks of the University of California, Berkeley, and it's now established in exercise physiology.

Lactate is absorbed through a different route from carbohydrate. So the theory is that if you take carbohydrate up to the absorption limit and then add lactate on top,

you can increase the total energy available per hour.

Two leading products

Enervit's product was developed with Professor Brooks and Dr Íñigo San Millán, Pogačar's former coach,

and UAE riders tested it for two years.

The manufacturer recommends drinking it in the last one or two hours of a race, when you need to raise the pace.

It went on general sale in October, but at the time of writing I couldn't confirm whether it is available in Japan.

The effect is still "unproven"

Expectations are high, but the scientific evidence isn't sufficient yet.

Much of the research was done on mice, and results in humans are mixed.

A trial with recreational exercisers found no improvement in VO₂max or lactate threshold,

and the most there is, is a small pilot study reporting a 4% increase in 20-minute TT power.

Another study using calcium lactate found more stomach discomfort and gas, and no improvement in performance.

Some riders say it made the effort feel easier,

but these are only impressions from racing, not results from controlled trials.

Verdict for amateurs: △ Wait and see

At about ¥1,500 a serving (at ¥150 to the dollar), it costs more than twice as much as a typical gel. Until the effect is proven,

it's a safer bet to get the basics of carbohydrate fuelling right first. If you really want to try it, check how your gut copes with it in training first.

Fuelling 3: Sodium bicarbonate and "salt"

Less eye-catching than lactate gels, but becoming established among pros, is sodium bicarbonate (baking soda).

When you ride hard, hydrogen ions build up in your muscles, making them more acidic and reducing power.

Sodium bicarbonate works to neutralise this. It used to be used for short events like time trials,

but now top teams use it in long one-day races and stage races too,

because it's thought to help with repeated attacks with recovery in between.

Its weak point, gut trouble, has been reduced by products wrapped in hydrogel (such as Maurten's Bicarb System).

The usual guideline is 0.3 g per kg of body weight; for a 70 kg rider that's about 21 g, taken about 2.5 hours before an important ride.

The other thing getting attention, especially in triathlon, is sodium (salt). I'll cover it in the triathlon section.

Verdict for amateurs: △ For advanced riders (if you try it, always test it in training)

Research on its effects is relatively advanced, but get the dose wrong and you risk an upset stomach.

If you plan to use it in a race, test it several times in training first.

Training: heat acclimation and quality over quantity

Measuring core temperature "like a power meter"

The 2026 Tour was hit by a heatwave, so much so that the UCI relaxed its feeding rules and added more feed zones.

At the centre of these heat strategies is heat acclimation training.

Training deliberately in hot conditions improves the body's ability to shed heat, for example by making you start sweating sooner.

The tool that has spread for this is CORE, a Swiss core body temperature sensor.

It attaches to a heart-rate strap and estimates core temperature from skin temperature and heat flow.

UAE Team Emirates XRG formally partnered with CORE from the 2026 season.

EF Pro Cycling says that after a block of heat training, Ben Healy

could hold 330 W in temperatures above 30°C for nearly 30 minutes longer.

The manufacturer recommends 2–3 sessions a week of 45–60 minutes each.

However, CORE only shows an estimate. Some researchers question its accuracy,

and you shouldn't rely on it as a safety device to prevent heatstroke.

Pre-race cooling has also become more sophisticated. Before the team time trial, Netcompany INEOS wore ice vests

and soaked their forearms in ice water. The aim is to lower core temperature while keeping the leg muscles warm.

From "long and slow" to quality training

Thinking on training volume is changing too. Some riders are getting faster by doing less, high-quality training rather than the traditional 30–40 hours a week.

For the popular zone 2 training, it's considered realistic to choose based on your weekly hours: with 12 hours or more a week, a zone 2-focused 80/20 (polarised) approach; with under 8 hours, a pyramid approach including sweet spot.

On the other hand, low-cadence work (50–70 rpm), often done by pros, has rarely been shown in research to beat normal cadence, and is considered unnecessary.

Verdict for amateurs: ◎ Copy heat acclimation / △ for sensors

Given how hot Japanese summers are, heat acclimation is well worth adopting. Even without a sensor, you can start by riding at lower intensity in the hot part of the day, or keeping your indoor trainer room on the warm side. But always put your health first.

Road equipment: tyre widths, short cranks and 1x

The "fastest tyre width" depends on the situation

In recent years the trend has been "wider is faster", but at the 2026 Tour choices were split.

Pogačar chose 28c tyres on his road bike and deliberately went with 25c on his TT bike.

Visma | Lease a Bike, meanwhile, used 30c on its TT bikes.

The answer from the field is that it depends on the course, the road surface and the wheel combination.

On production bikes, internal rim widths have grown from 17 mm to 21–23 mm, and designs built around wider tyres are now the norm.

Shorter cranks, narrower bars

Top riders such as Pogačar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel have moved to short cranks of 165 mm or less.

Vingegaard and Pogačar used 160 mm on their TT bikes. The reason is that the hip angle doesn't close up as much, even in a deep forward position.

Bars are still narrow. The new UCI rule sets the outer width at 400 mm or more,

but all three kept the brackets under 400 mm and met the rule by flaring the drops.

"Single chainring (1x)" on the road too

What caught the eye was Vingegaard's Cervélo S5. Despite being a fully kitted aero road bike,

it ran a single-chainring (1x) setup and weighed 6.81 kg, right at the UCI minimum of 6.8 kg.

However, Vos was disqualified at the Giro d'Italia Women for being 20 g under the weight limit, so pushing too hard is risky.

On production bikes too, fully wireless electronic shifting has become standard from mid-range up,

and the conversation has moved from "should I go electronic?" to "which gear ratios suit me?".

Verdict for amateurs

• ◎ Copy it: wide rims with tyres of around 28–32 mm. A more comfortable ride, and actually faster on rough roads

• △ Wait and see: short cranks. Whether they suit you depends on your bike fit, and you'll need to rethink your gearing too

• × Not needed: narrow bars, or saving weight right down to the limit. Prioritise safety and handling

  
  

Triathlon: sodium, cooling and aerobars

In October 2026, the IRONMAN World Championship returned to a single day in Kona, Hawaii, for men and women together. This prompted brands to invest in development again, and for the first time in a while the venue was full of new products and prototypes. The keyword: function over looks.

Fuelling: sodium and hydrogel go official

From 2026, Precision Fuel & Hydration (PF&H) became the official hydration partner of IRONMAN and the 70.3 series,

with its PH 1000 electrolyte drink served on course at every race.

It contains 1,000 mg of sodium per litre, about twice a typical sports drink,

because according to PF&H, the average person loses about 950 mg of sodium per litre of sweat.

Maurten's hydrogel products (Gel 100, the caffeinated Gel 100 Caf 100, and Solid) are the official gels,

available on course.

Strategically, "front-loading" is now standard: taking in extra carbs and fluid on the bike, where it's easier, before the run.

Sodium lost through sweat over a whole Ironman can exceed 4,000–6,000 mg, more than water and gels alone can replace.

Equipment: the money is going into aerobars

The annual Kona bike count (a tally of competitors' bikes) showed some interesting changes.

• Bikes: Canyon grew its share from one in five bikes to one in four. The top three, Canyon, Cervélo and Trek, account for more than half the field

• Wheels: more people are using the wheels that come with the bike, with stock wheels and in-house brands making up about two-thirds

• Aerobars: the money saved is going into new-generation aerobars such as monobars. FastTT (5.9% in its debut) and Drag2Zero (3.5%) grew rapidly

• Drink mounts: whether they integrate with the new aerobars is the deciding factor. For the rear, EZ Gains passed 20%,

  and for the front, TriRig jumped from under 1% to over 12%

Heat gear and notable new products

• Omius Airshade (about $100): a visor that attaches to sunglasses and uses louvres to send cool air over the face and forehead.

  Its unusual looks made it the talk of the venue

• Insulated drink covers: almost every Canyon pro fitted an insulating, reflective cover to the front drink module,

  because cockpits with fairings tend to trap heat

• Ekoi Tri Aero ($675): a triathlon-specific aero helmet not bound by UCI standards.

  It claims up to 12 W savings in crosswinds (10–20°)

• Zwim ($450 + $100 a year): a smart dryland swim trainer using paddles that measure power and hand angle

  
  

Verdict for amateur triathletes

• ◎ Copy it: more sodium and front-loaded fuelling on the bike. Start by learning your own sweat rate and salt losses

• △ Wait and see: the latest aerobars and dedicated helmets. They work, but they're expensive, so wait until your position is settled

• ◎ A cheap trick: insulate your drinks. An insulated bottle or cover does the job

  
  

Summary: road racing "adds fuel", triathlon "manages what you lose"

Line up the 2026 trends and you can see that road racing and triathlon are evolving in different directions.

Road racing has moved towards adding more fuel to the body, with huge carbohydrate intakes and lactate gels.

Triathlon, meanwhile, is moving towards managing the sodium you lose in sweat and the heat that builds up in the body.

What will 2027 bring? (my predictions)

• The verdict on lactate gels: after Enervit and ExoLactate,

  new brands such as Santamadre, which has also made waves in marathon running, look set to enter.

  As research on humans progresses, it should become clear whether this is real or a passing fad

• Personalised fuelling: from a one-size-fits-all target of so many grams per hour to settings matched to each person's absorption capacity

• New UCI helmet standard: a new certification system is due to be introduced from January 2027, so expect new models from every brand

• Faster development of triathlon-specific gear: with Kona back as a single-day race and Salomon as title sponsor,

  development of shoes and cooling gear looks set to pick up

The latest pro trends are tempting, but starting with the basics of fuelling and heat management

is the quickest route for us amateur riders.