Cycling teams at the Tour de France employ various methods to maintain their riders' comfort and coolness, including the use of tights, buckets, and baths.
In the gruelling heat of the 2025 Tour de France, WorldTour cycling teams are employing advanced technological monitoring and tailored cooling strategies to manage heat and sun stroke risks, ensuring the riders' performance and safety in extreme conditions.
At the forefront of this battle is Dan Guillemette, head physiotherapist of Jayco AlUla, who drives ahead of the race to keep riders fuelled, hydrated, and cool. One of the key tools in their arsenal is the Core Body Temperature Sensor, a non-invasive wearable device that measures a rider's core body temperature in real time.
This innovative technology allows teams to continually monitor heat stress and understand how riders' bodies adapt to rising temperatures over the course of the race. By tracking core temperature data, teams can optimise several aspects to combat heat-related issues.
Heat adaptation is crucial, as riders can train to improve their bodies' ability to handle heat stress, resulting in smaller rises in core temperature under exertion. Real-time temperature monitoring also helps adjust fluid intake to prevent dehydration, a major factor in heat stroke and performance decline.
Warm-up and pacing are also adjusted to manage core temperature build-up during the race, while cooling interventions like ice vests, cold water sprays, and ice packs are used to reduce core temperature before and during stages in hot conditions.
Some riders even resort to unconventional methods, such as wearing ice vests or tennis wristbands with ice cubes, or having a towel draped around their necks that has been dipped in cold water. While the physiological effect of these methods might be minimal, they can still provide some relief.
In addition, some teams incorporate heat training prior to the Tour de France, which can help riders maintain their physiological gains from altitude training and better handle heat stress during the demanding final week of the race.
The cycle of cooling down the body temperature starts all over again the next day if the weather is hot and humid. WorldTour cycling teams have elaborate cooling strategies, including the use of ice products during hot summer days. The body's temperature of riders racing in intense heat is managed to prevent it from rising much more than 37°C.
Team nutritionists prepare ice gels and ice slushies for the riders, which often contain around 30 grams of carbohydrates. In a French supermarket in July, men's cycling teams may be found buying women's tights filled with ice cubes. The ice-filled tights are cut into individual ice packs and used to cool down the riders racing the Tour de France.
Riders have become more reliant on feed zone handouts due to aggressive racing. After the race, riders take dips in ice or cold baths to recover. Cold towels are found to be very effective in cooling down the riders. Bahrain Victorious riders walk in team-issued dressing gowns to an ice van for a plunge. Some Jayco AlUla riders stuff ice cubes down their mitts.
In conclusion, the combination of sophisticated temperature sensors, targeted heat acclimatization training, real-time monitoring, and specific cooling strategies allows WorldTour teams to effectively manage heat and reduce the risk of sun stroke during the Tour de France, ensuring the riders maintain performance and safety in extreme heat conditions.
Science plays a crucial role in the health-and-wellness of WorldTour cyclists during the Tour de France, as teams employ advanced therapies-and-treatments to manage heat stress and sun stroke risks. Sports performance is optimized through the use of innovative devices like the Core Body Temperature Sensor, which tracks riders' temperature in real-time, and cooling strategies such as ice vests, cold water sprays, and ice packs, ensuring that riders' body temperatures remain within safe limits, even in extreme heat.
