How many calories will a player who wins the Tour de France burn in the entire race?
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The 'Tour de France ' bicycle road race, which is held in France every July, is a harsh race with a total distance of about 3300km and a height difference of 2000m or more, with a total of 21 stages in a 23-day schedule. The player who wins such a Tour de France consumes a huge amount of calories throughout the race, and John Eric Goff , a professor of physics at the University of Lynchburg in the United States, estimates the total calories burned. ..
Tour de France: How many calories will the winner burn?
https://theconversation.com/tour-de-france-how-many-calories-will-the-winner-burn-163043
The Tour de France is a tough race for ordinary people to complete just one stage. For example, ' Stage 17 ' in 2021 is a course with a total length of 178.4km, which is relatively flat about 113km from the start and the altitude rises only about 400m, but when approaching the Haute-Pyrenees, the slope becomes steep at once. From a point of about 600m above sea level, climb the Pale Surd Pass to an altitude of 1569m, then descend to an altitude of 958m, and then climb the Val Luron Aze Pass to an altitude of 1580m again. Then, after descending to the altitude of 849m, finally climb the Porte Pass to the altitude of 2215m and finish.
'Even on the best days of my life, I may not be able to finish Stage 17, let alone the five hours it takes for the winner of Stage 17 to run,' Goff said. It would be impossible. ' The Tour de France runs all 21 stages in a 23-day schedule, so even this harsh stage 17 is only one of the 23 days.
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Goff, who studies sports physics, has been modeling the Tour de France for nearly 20 years using terrain data and the laws of physics. 'The Tour de France athletes transfer the energy to move the bike from their muscles through the bike to the tires that push the ground out. The faster the athlete releases the energy, the greater the power.' I will.
The power to move a bicycle can be expressed in watts , and the Tour de France athletes can produce enormous power over an incredible amount of time compared to the average person. For example, a healthy cyclist can continue to produce an average of 250-300 watts of energy for about 20 minutes, while a Tour de France player can continue to produce more than 400 watts of energy for the same period of time. Also, when going up a steep slope, it seems that it can instantly release as much as 1000 watts of energy.
In the movie below, you can see a cycling athlete, Robert Förstemann , riding a bicycle to generate electricity and running a 700W toaster to bake bread.
Olympic Cyclist Vs. Toaster: Can He Power It? --YouTube
However, not all of the energy that the Tour de France athletes transfer to the bike is used to move forward, and energy is lost due to air resistance and friction with the road. You can also get the help of gravity downhill, but on the uphill you have to move your bike forward against gravity.
Goff created a model that incorporated the effects of gravity, drag and friction on the Tour de France course to calculate the energy required to run. As a result, a typical Tour de France winner will need to output an average of 325 watts of energy over the entire 80-hour race. For a normal healthy cyclist, this is a huge amount of energy, considering that if you can make 300 watts over 20 minutes, you're good at it.
Athletes get these energies from food, but muscles cannot convert the calories they get from food into 100% energy and output it. Goff estimated the average energy efficiency to be '20%' and calculated the calorie intake required by the Tour de France athletes.
According to Goff's calculations, athletes who have completed all 21 stages will consume 120,000 kcal during the race, or 6,000 kcal on average for each stage. Also, on a stage that runs on a steep mountain road like stage 17, the calorie consumption is said to be close to 8000 kcal. To make up for this huge energy loss, athletes are running and eating energy bars and bread with jam.
In addition, Mr. Tadej Pogačar, who won the overall victory at the Tour de France in 2020, weighs only 146 pounds (about 66 kg). The Tour de France players are basically low in fat, so to stay superhuman, you have to keep eating, Goff said.
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