Osmo Nutrition for Tinkoff-Saxo

Simon Whiten

OSMO Nutrition is helping Team Tinkoff-Saxo fend off dehydration and is now available in the UK.

If you saw Contador in the the recent Criterium du Dauphaine stage race, then you can only have been impressed by his fight back on the final stage up to Courchevel. He may not have won either stage nor the overall but it was a truly impressive display, whetting the appetite for a battle royale in July’s Tour de France. One of the things that won’t be bothering him during that battle is dehydration, as Saxo Tinkoff have teamed up with Osmo Nutrition who are leading a bit of a revolution in sports drinks.

 

 
We featured Osmo some time ago when their chief research officer Dr Stacy Sims claimed that “Athletes are falling short of their potential in power, aerobic capacity, endurance and mental acuity because they are consuming antiquated sports drinks”, referring to research that concluded that current carbohydrate-heavy drinks fail because they actually hindered hydration. Basically Osmo claim that your carbohydrate sports drink may actually be contributing to dehydration during a race or ride, leading to a loss of power.

Dr Sims explains, “Staying on top of your hydration needs is essential. In fact, a 2% decrease in body water translates to an 11% decline in power output. Drinking plain water isn’t ideal because you for instance need a small amount of sodium to help the water reach the fluid compartments of the body. The specific ratio and concentration of glucose, sucrose and electrolytes in Osmo Active Hydration results in the fastest fluid absorption possible thanks to a lot of pioneering work and feedback from the athletes.”

Tinkoff-Saxo agree, saying that by the time ‘you start feeling thirsty it’s already too late’, as that thirsty feeling comes about when you have already lost that two percent of water that will equate to the 11 percent loss in power output that Dr Sims mentions above. Not what any of us want. Team Tinkoff-Saxo put it eloquently, stating that without staying properly hydrated, ‘the little merciless guy with the hammer will come knocking real soon’. Certainly Contador was not suffering from any loss of power on the final long climb to the finish at the Dauphine.

Dr Sims gets to the crux of the issue with the traditional sports drinks most of us use, “These sports drinks are slow to hydrate because either their carbohydrate solution is too high and they don’t utilize an optimised electrolyte composition or they rely just on electrolytes with no carbohydrate; neither which is physiologically ideal to actively move water into an athlete’s body.”

In simple terms, Dr Sims research shows that carbohydrate in a solution actually draws water out of the muscles in order to help digest the solution, increasing dehydration. In contrast an Osmo mix, with solid food if carbohydrate is required, does not pull water from the muscles, so helps to keep you hydrated. Osmo helps to ‘bind and retain water in an athlete’s cells and blood’. This helps a rider to stay hydrated and therefore riders have greater power, aerobic capacity, endurance and mental acuity when drinking Osmo than other sports drinks. Recently in conversation with pro-cyclist, Simon Holt on a training camp, he confirmed just how effective Osmo is, stating that it is the only product he had ever used which made a noticeable difference to his performance. Praise indeed.

Tinkoff-Saxo’s Nicholas Roche seems to concur, “You can really never let your guard down when you are riding for the general classification. I have to optimize everything I do and that includes keeping my water balance at the right level both in the race and between the stages. Honestly as a professional rider you get a lot of different products throughout your career, but with Osmo I can tell that it makes a difference. I don’t have to drink insane amounts of water during really hot and long stages because the mix in Osmo helps me retain the water, and without artificial additives it feels natural to take it as a part of my daily routine. And that’s important since we eat a lot of food supplements during a day.”

As well as the Osmo active hydration for during races, Osmo have PreLoad Hydration, which allows the riders to go into the race with upwards of 20% more body water, and an Acute Recovery drink. They even have a specific range just for women, which is a truly innovative step.

Dr Sims has always tested her products on pro cyclists, and lately has been working together with Tinkoff-Saxo team doctor, Piet de Moor, to improve Osmo through in race testing. Piet says, “Over the years the riders have worked with a lot of different nutrition supplements, but it has always been difficult for us to find a sponsor with a product that suited the taste of all the riders. With Osmo it’s the first time that all our riders are stomachache free all the time. We have experienced Osmo as a very gentle but highly efficient hydration supplement. The riders drink the Osmo Active Hydration, Preload Hydration and Acute Recovery at their own request so I don’t have to force it in them.”

The good news is that Osmo is now available in the UK. Obviously with a product that is quite revolutionary and different to what has gone before, there is a huge educational job to do. George Bowie, MD of UK distributors, 2Pure, says, “After meeting the team at OSMO and hearing Stacy’s journey you get a feeling that there is something special happening, something we want to be part of. We are proud to have been given the task to raise awareness of OSMO in the UK and educate the athlete on the importance of proper hydration as part of developing OSMO’s availability in the UK. This is a great opportunity for 2Pure and the positive reaction that we have had from influential coaches and the athletes has reinforced that. The next 12 months will see us focused on educating first and selling second, whilst ensuring that OSMO is readily available through key specialist retailers.”

We have some Osmo here at CycleTechReview.com for us to review and tell you how we get on, so check back soon for a full review.

Team Tinkoff-Saxo
 
Osmo Nutrition
 
Osmo UK (2Pure)