Maurten — fuelling the long ride

Since its inception in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2015, Maurten has been athlete-first — its patented Hydrogel Technology has fundamentally changed how riders fuel.

Maurten is now the official fuel partner to INEOS Grenadiers, UNO-X Mobility, Intermarché–Wanty, SD Worx-Protime, and FDJ-Suez. These partnerships represent an integral part of how Maurten works to enable all humans to be better athletes. As the endurance and science landscapes change, fuelling technology needs to keep pace as well. Maurten products don’t stand still. The first-hand, real-world feedback of World Tour riders works alongside research to shape the ongoing development of the Maurten ecosystem. The process was demonstrated with the recent upgrades to the Drink Mix range that will fuel the teams in all races this year.

Take it personally

There is no benchmark for fuelling — only what works for you.

Whether a World Tour professional or weekend cyclist, how you fuel is personal. It takes time and patience to know what your body can tolerate. Professionals may need more carbohydrates per hour to fuel long, hard days in the saddle but they don’t jump straight to 120 grams per hour — they experiment and get used to it. They train their guts.

Why riders fuel

Endurance athletes require carbohydrates — the most efficient and readily-available source of fuel for the body.

Carbohydrates are broken down and absorbed in the digestive system, converted into glucose, and stored in muscles and the liver as glycogen — ready to be used when exercise load is applied to the body. The amount of glycogen the muscles and liver can store is limited. As exercise intensity and duration increase the store of glycogen (fuel) will start to deplete. Eventually the store will run out unless additional carbohydrates are consumed during the session or race.

To maintain performance beyond an hour — whether that’s a training session, a sportive, or a stage in a Grand Tour — it’s important for riders to consume additional carbohydrates during the ride. Not only does this deliver fuel for the duration of time on the bike, but it also ensures the body will not finish in a depleted state. Feeling tired at the finish line is appropriate — feeling empty is not. Using up the body’s reserves of available fuel without replacing them will lengthen recovery times and potentially inhibit future performances. This is crucial for the day in, day out effort of multi-day races, like the Tour de France.

It's the rise in intensity — surges, hard efforts, punchy climbs, or simply a stiff headwind — that makes it challenging for the gut to handle fuel at the same time, as more blood is diverted away from the stomach to assist working muscles. The harder you work, the harder it is to digest fuel and access those carbohydrates. More stress on the gut increases the risk of gastrointestinal discomfort — often in the form of nausea or stomach cramps — and performance may be compromised. Maurten Gel and Drink Mix, with Hydrogel Technology, are developed to optimize the intake and absorption of carbohydrates during higher intensity activity.

Patented Hydrogel Technology

Hydrogel Technology is what sets Maurten apart. It’s the innovation that enables Grand Tour riders to tolerate more carbs per hour and high doses of sodium bicarbonate — fuelling the unprecedented aggression and explosive attacks of today’s cycling. Maurten Gels and Drink Mix use hydrogel to encapsulate carbohydrates, carrying them through the stomach to be absorbed in the intestines and used as fuel. The Maurten Bicarb System uses the same technology to upend decades-old dogma about sodium bicarbonate.

Drink Mix — Liquid in the bidon, hydrogel in the stomach

The product that revolutionised endurance fuelling. Unlike other sports drinks, Maurten Drink Mix is based on Hydrogel Technology. It transforms from a liquid to a hydrogel upon contact with stomach acid. Once in the stomach, Drink Mix behaves like Maurten gels, encapsulating the carbohydrates in hydrogel and moving them quickly into the intestines to be absorbed as fuel. This enables riders to consume more carbs with less risk of gastrointestinal distress. Comfort matters. Consuming large volumes of liquid fuel during a hard ride can cause a sloshing or bouncing sensation in the stomach. By instantly converting into a gel, Drink Mix helps to alleviate this issue. 

Drink Mix 320 contains 80 grams of carbohydrates
Drink Mix 160 contains 40 grams of carbohydrates

Gel

Maurten Gels are actual gels — not messy syrups — firmer and easier to consume in the turbulence of the peloton. Based on Hydrogel Technology and made with only 6 ingredients, Gels contain 25 or 40 grams of carbs (depending on size) in a 0.8:1 ratio of fructose and glucose to facilitate better carbohydrate uptake.

Gel 100 contains 25 grams of carbohydrates
Gel 160 contains 40 grams of carbohydrates
Gel 100 Caf 100 contains 25 grams of carbohydrates and 100 mg of caffeine

Solid

Solid is an oat- and rice-based bar with 40g of carbohydrates — chewable fuel that offers a texture reset. A go-to for preloading or replenishing carbs. The bar easily splits into two equal parts for calculating carbohydrate consumption. Solid C 160 means cocoa. It’s a flavour variation to break up endurance fuelling.

Solid 160 and Solid C 160 both contain 40 grams of carbohydrates.

Maurten Bicarb System

Sodium bicarbonate is a powerful performance-enhancer but notoriously volatile. Incorrect dosing or haphazard delivery methods meant riders risked serious stomach issues. Maurten Bicarb System cracks the code. Hydrogel Technology encapsulates the sodium bicarbonate making high doses tolerable for riders while minimizing the risk of gastrointestinal distress. The hydrogel transports the sodium bicarbonate to the intestines, essentially limiting its exposure to the stomach’s acidity. This breakthrough benefits World Tour riders during high-intensity moments, attacks, and sprints — where the boundaries of effort and power start to limit performance. The innovation is transforming cycling as one of the few legal performance-enhancing supplements available.

The Maurten Bicarb System has different serving sizes — 12, 15, 19, 22, and 25. It's not one-size-fits-all. The right serving is determined by assessing athlete weight and bicarbonate experience. In general, the higher the weight, the bigger the serving size. But without experience more doesn’t necessarily mean better — you need to get used to it.