Tom Dumoulin talks about the evolution of nutritionin: "Back then, the person who received the knock last became the winner of the day"
Cycling
Tom Dumoulin has shared his expertise about nutrition in the peloton in the podcast In Het Wiel. The Dutchman comes from a time when everyone wanted to be as thin as possible. Nowadays the teams already know a lot more about nutrition and Dumoulin explains the differences compared to the past.
"In my early years as a professional, it was an art to eat as little as possible before training. Eating less makes you lighter. That way I taught my body to burn fats. The idea was: the fewer carbohydrates I give my body, the more efficiently my body should use them." The idea was simple, but the execution proved destructive. "One after the other then dropped out with hunger pangs. The person who received the knock last became the winner of the day."
Dumoulin indicates that he has also made huge mistakes with regard to nutrition. "In 2015 I did my diet a bit by feel. Then I rode a very good Vuelta a Espana. That's why I continued with it. The only problem was that I didn't consume enough fats. This meant that in the last years of my career I was no longer able to deliver the strength that I could muster in the years before. A test showed that I had the testosterone level of a little girl."
Nowadays, the teams in the peloton know a lot more about nutrition, as the former winner of the Giro also indicates. "In fact, that philosophy has been completely debunked. The gain is a lot greater if you burn a lot of carbohydrates within a certain period of time. So it's actually the exact opposite of what people, including me, initially thought."
"In recent years the level has risen so enormously in the peloton and there is only one real explanation for this: nutrition. In 2015, the Jumbo-Visma team still trained on an empty stomach, when they immediately had the worst spring they have ever had. Yet at a certain point they became pioneers in eating as many carbohydrates as possible before training."
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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