Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Video: Peter Sagan hoovers up the Haribo after winning in Belgium this weekend

The true prize after taking Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne

Peter Sagan delivered a quite spectacularly subdued interview after finishing second in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday. We’d assumed it was a tinge of disappointment combined with the simple fact that he’s Peter Sagan – but maybe it was just that he hadn’t had any Haribo.

Because this was the scene a day later, immediately after he’d won Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.

Look at him go!

Many of us will recognise this state of mind. Those are the lifeless eyes of a man whose tired brain has been reduced to endlessly repeating the instruction “mash carbohydrates into mouth” until it actually happens.

Judging by the fact that they were measured out by the fistful, we’re envisaging a somewhat friskier version of the Slovak in this particular post-race interview.

Then again, further fistfuls of the sports nutrition more commonly known as Gold Bears may have been required. It had been a tough race for Sagan, who covered any number of moves before launching an early, draining sprint.

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

Add new comment

12 comments

Avatar
JuJu | 7 years ago
0 likes

Alansmurphy, thanks for the precisions and sharing .

I'll have a chat with my friend about that and try to better understand how he manages his blood sugars... and difficulties that come with. Makes me more impressed of him given the average speed he manages!

Keep enjoying the ride Alans!

Avatar
alansmurphy | 7 years ago
2 likes

Irun - I am diabetic and it's even more complicated for your friend than you would think.

 

Sugars are meant to be in a range of 5-9mmol - and on a big power day mine can drop by about 3-5 per hour. A Mars bar will quickly elevate the sugars but can be burned off in a matter of minutes so following with a carb or slow release is needed (my choice is usually flapjack).

 

Here's the fun though, if I start a ride with blood sugars of 12, aniticipating that after an hour it may be 9 and then on a downward trend, my body goes into shock to mess me up. Upwards of a certain level and with hard exercise the body will start to break down the sugars you store and push them around your body.

 

One week I started with 9.8 - had a flapjack, a cake at the coffee stop andcame home a little low (3). The following week starting at 12 I just had carrot cake and came home to 28.3mmol.

 

And when the sugar lows come on, they can be quite epic. I managed to stop and talk to my riding partner at the arranged meeting point on Sunday then ride towards his house looking for him! I have also been rescued from a Jacuzzi and cycled into a parked car!

Avatar
Rapha Nadal | 7 years ago
1 like

Man eats sweets.  This is news?

Still, suppose it's better than the eternal disc brake bollocks.

Avatar
MartyMcCann | 7 years ago
0 likes

It is important to get the Haribo feeding schedule correct though. Starmix or Supermix towards the last part of a ride, and the Tangfastics only for the final push home-kind of like the finishing bottle of sweets!

Avatar
brooksby | 7 years ago
0 likes

So did anyone get him some Scooby Snacks? Hey: enquiring minds want to know...

Avatar
JuJu | 7 years ago
0 likes

Don't know why but it reminds me a riding mate on sunday's who's got diabetes. We usually stop and pause half way through the ride to let him do 'insulin check'. And he eats Haribos and Mars bars to regulate his blood sugar.  And on the road again...

Avatar
The_Vermonter | 7 years ago
1 like

Get ready for "60 Minutes" to do an expose on the evil that is "Bear Doping". 

Avatar
dottigirl | 7 years ago
2 likes

I'm not the only one who doesn't make sense after a long ride until some sugar is consumed then?

I call it 'bike drunk'. I've had to apologise to the staff in my local before now for staring gormlessly at the pumps. And I'm seldom burying myself anywhere near what Sagan does. I find I 'come to' after half of my pint of cider. Obviously, Sagan has found Haribo works for him, especially since he has to make some kind of sense in front of the world's media in a second language...

Avatar
Sub4 replied to dottigirl | 7 years ago
3 likes
dottigirl wrote:

I'm not the only one who doesn't make sense after a long ride until some sugar is consumed then?

I call it 'bike drunk'. I've had to apologise to the staff in my local before now for staring gormlessly at the pumps. And I'm seldom burying myself anywhere near what Sagan does. I find I 'come to' after half of my pint of cider. Obviously, Sagan has found Haribo works for him, especially since he has to make some kind of sense in front of the world's media in a second language...

Third language at least! His 2nd is Italian. Must be the most gruelling pro sport of them all.

 

 

Avatar
dottigirl replied to Sub4 | 7 years ago
0 likes
Sub4 wrote:
dottigirl wrote:

...Obviously, Sagan has found Haribo works for him, especially since he has to make some kind of sense in front of the world's media in a second language...

Third language at least! His 2nd is Italian. Must be the most gruelling pro sport of them all.

I stand corrected! 

Honestly though, we expect the participants to run a gauntlet of interviews within seconds of climbing off a bike, and then they get criticised when they're either 'boring' (i.e. visibly shattered and struggling for words) or talk a load of unintelligible shit? And now when they're getting panned for consuming vast quantities of sweets.?

(Reminds me of that Olympic track ceremony, held within seconds of the race finishing, where one of the riders went green and puked up during the anthem.)

 

 

Avatar
Leviathan | 7 years ago
1 like

"I was given contaminated gummi bears soaked in EPO, Your Honour."

Avatar
nbrus | 7 years ago
0 likes

And who doesn't like Haribo? ... I keep several mini packs handy for when I need a sweet treat ... Tangfastics are my fave, closely followed by Starmix :@).

Latest Comments