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“I had to take it during the race” – Michael Woods explains the viral World Cup boost

There was plenty of drama at the start of the elite men's road race as big names such as Julian Alaphilippe, Mattias Skjelmose, Joao Almeida and Mikel Landa, among others, retired. However, one of the more viral moments came from Canadian Michael Woods.

With 200 km to go, Woods began reaching into a bowl of an unknown substance with a spoon, which resulted in him being forced to move forward without his hands. Social media quickly began circulating these images, with people guessing what exactly Woods had for lunch. Was it pasta? Was it rice? Well, as it turns out, it was neither, as the Canadian explained to FloBikes after the race.


His lunch consisted of a portion of bicarbonate of soda. “That’s true,” Woods declared after finishing the world championship road race in 54th place. “I'm all for using it, but the problem is that it only works for 5 hours. That’s why I had to take it after an hour during the race.”

Woods was nearly 13 minutes behind rainbow jersey winner Tadej Pogacar, and the help of sodium bicarbonate couldn't quite propel Woods to a world championship victory in Zurich. “Oh, Tadej is simply the best driver in the world,” the 37-year-old admits honestly. “Nobody could follow and it was a super difficult race. Not more.”

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