Maybe you didn't know this, but in the start zone of each of the stages of the Tour de France 2012, a van from Powerbar is present with a full display of energy rich products which are available to the riders before they start the stage.

Energy bars and gels which the riders can take as many as they wish ... Joël explains how this works!

Yesterday at the individual time trial between Arc-et-Senans and Besançon I went to see Joël, who manages together with Stéphanie the Powerbar stand at the start, to ask him to explain what the riders take before they start.

Feeding in the race (from the cars of the directeurs sportifs) is allowed only after the first 50 first kilometers in the stages in line (except if the commissaires decide otherwise) and in a time trial like yesterday, the rider has to wait for the feeding zone mid-stage in order to find something to eat and to drink. It's thus quite logic that a rider wants to get something to eat before the start and that's why we often see riders leaving with an energy gel positioned at the bottom of their shorts in a time trial.

Joël explains that in a time trial like yesterday, the gels are most popular, especially those with caffeine (as we can see with Robert Gesink (Rabobank) in the picture which illustrates this article), just like in the mountain stages, while in the more flatter stages the energy bars are more popular.

Let's discover all that in the interview below ...

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