Chris Froome's (Team Sky) Stage 19 raid across the Colle dell Finestre, Sestriere and the Jafferau to clinch the pink jersey en route to a historic overall victory at the Giro d'Italia has been cycling's hottest topic for the past week now.
Some have simply said 'chapeau' to Froome, commending his guts to go for broke with such an audacious solo attack, calling it the greatest ride of modern cycling, while others feel like what he achieved was implausible and that it is too reminiscent of cycling's dark past.
However, the rider and the team themselves were pretty clear with what they attributed Froome's success to that day.
In a post-race interview, team director Sir Dave Brailsford consistently mentioned the nutrition strategy for the stage and claimed that it was the most important factor, and now Cyclist can reveal Froome was in fact using a secret new product from nutrition sponsor Science in Sport that day.
Codenamed 'Beta Fuel', this new product was developed in tandem with the British WorldTour team with the goal of providing the 'maximum amount of carbohydrate possible without upsetting your stomach.'
SiS has confirmed the new product that mixes with water is designed for rides of three hours or longer with the aim of providing a 2:1 glucose to fructose in a 'pH neutral, isotonic formula'.
Coming in liquid form, the nutrition experts also claim that 'any gastrointestinal distress' is minimised in this state.
The inclusion of fructose is also suggested to increase the amount of carbohydrates the body can oxidise in an hour from 60g to 90g, essentially giving the body more fuel faster.
Alongside the glucose and fructose will be the usual ingredients of sodium, calcium, magnesium and potassium which act as staples for most isotonic energy drinks.
Pinning the sucess of Froome solely on this new product would be naive but it could very well have been a small factor in the many pieces of the puzzle that allowed Froome to distance the likes of Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ).
When this product will be available to the general public is unconfirmed with the isotonic mix still in the development phase but when it does hit the shelves, I will be sure to take it to the Italian Alps to see if it helps me hold a three minute gap over 80km.