Bicarbonate Late in Long Races: What the New Carb + Bicarb Gel Study Shows

How Bicarbonate Works and How It Is Normally Taken

High-intensity exercise can temporarily cause metabolic acidosis: more hydrogen ions and a lower pH in the muscle. Sodium bicarbonate raises blood bicarbonate, which the UCI Sports Nutrition Project’s supplement review (Whitfield and colleagues) describes as key to limiting the performance cost of that acidosis. In the LJMU paper’s summary, doses of 0.2–0.4 g per kg of body mass raise blood bicarbonate by 4–8 mmol/L, which helps hydrogen ions and lactate leave the working muscle.

Nearly all of the evidence is for bicarbonate taken before exercise, the LJMU authors note. For a single dose, the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) position stand (Grgic et al., 2021) says 0.2 g/kg seems to be the minimum and 0.3 g/kg the optimal dose, taken 60–180 minutes before exercise; 0.4 or 0.5 g/kg adds no benefit and more side effects. It also describes 3–7-day loading at 0.4 or 0.5 g/kg per day. The UCI review lists 0.3 g/kg, 1–3 hours before, as enteric-coated capsules or hydrogel mixtures; blood bicarbonate peaks 120–180 minutes after a dose, and the benefit lasts at least 1–4 hours.

The ISSN says the effects are mostly established for hard efforts of 30 seconds to 12 minutes, though the UCI review also lists gains of about 2% over 16 km and 1.4% over 40 km. The UCI’s position statement (Burke et al., September 2026) counts bicarbonate among six supplements with a robust evidence base. But its table of disciplines marks it as supported for BMX, track, esports, cyclo-cross and mountain biking, and leaves road and gravel open: more discipline-specific evidence is required.

The LJMU Study: Bicarbonate During the Ride

The authors asked whether bicarbonate taken during a long ride, on top of normal fueling, helps the hard efforts at the end, using the MNSTRY Bicarb Gel 40: 40 g of carbohydrate and 5 g of bicarbonate per gel (4.5 g sodium and 0.5 g potassium bicarbonate).

In the bicarbonate trial, the gels at 0, 30, 90 and 150 minutes contained bicarbonate and those at 60 and 120 minutes did not. The authors front-loaded the dose because blood bicarbonate takes roughly 60–180 minutes to peak. A final standard gel came at 180 minutes, and the tests began on a second bike within minutes of the ride ending. The fixed total of 20 g (18 g of it sodium bicarbonate), chosen as 0.27–0.29 g/kg for a 70–75 kg rider, averaged 0.27 g/kg across the group.

What It Found

Three hours of riding cost power in both trials, but less with bicarbonate in the 12-minute test: 251 W against 239 W with carbohydrate alone, a mean difference of 12 W (95% confidence interval 3–22 W, p = 0.01), or about 6%. Fresh, the same riders averaged 269 W, so bicarbonate narrowed the loss without removing it. Sprint and 2-minute power did not differ significantly between the trials.

The blood data matched. Bicarbonate was above baseline from 120 minutes onward (not yet at 60) and peaked at the end of the ride at 31.1 mmol/L, against 24.6 mmol/L in the carbohydrate trial. The rise from baseline to each rider’s peak averaged 5.8 mmol/L, with a range of 2.8–8.8. Blood lactate after the hard efforts was higher with bicarbonate, as in earlier studies.

Gut symptoms, scored from 0 to 10 at every gel, did not differ between trials, and no rider scored above 4, the top of the mild band. The bicarbonate gels scored lower for pleasantness, and some riders diluted them in water because of the dense texture.

Three of the 11 riders did not improve. Earlier studies cited by the authors report gains of around 1–3%; they suggest the larger effect here may partly reflect testing riders already fatigued. Julien Louis, the project’s supervisor, told World Athletics the format “may offer endurance athletes a practical nutritional strategy”.

How Much Weight the Study Can Carry

This is one small laboratory study, and the authors list its limits themselves:

• Eleven riders. The authors call the work preliminary, pending confirmation in larger groups, elite athletes and real competition.
• Not blinded. The bicarbonate gel tastes different, so an expectancy effect cannot be ruled out; the ISSN notes that part of bicarbonate’s effect appears to be placebo-driven.
• One test of three. The tests always ran in the same order, so the authors cannot tell whether the 12-minute gain reflects resistance to the 3-hour fatigue or better recovery between efforts.
• An add-on. The result is bicarbonate on top of 80 g/h of carbohydrate, and in-ride gels were not compared with a conventional pre-race dose.
• Supply and affiliations. MNSTRY provided the gels and Siemens Healthineers the blood analyser; the authors state neither had a role in design, analysis or publication. One co-author lists Precision Fuel & Hydration and three are from World Athletics. Funding was a Portuguese FCT doctoral grant.

The other recent cycling studies of gel and hydrogel formats are small too.

The UCI review also cites a split-dose study by Dalle et al. (2021): 0.15 g/kg before a 3-hour simulated race, then 0.05 g/kg per hour during it, raised average power in a final 90-second sprint by about 3%.

Side Effects and Why the Format Matters

The ISSN lists bloating, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain as the most common side effects. Their incidence and severity vary between and within individuals but are generally low, it says, though they can hurt performance. Its suggestions: smaller doses (0.2 or 0.3 g/kg), taking it around 180 minutes before exercise or timing it to individual tolerance, a high-carbohydrate meal alongside, and enteric-coated capsules. The UCI review adds co-ingestion with carbohydrate and hydrogel systems such as Maurten’s, which a 2024 study by Gough and Sparks in resting cyclists found reduced symptom severity. Format matters in a race too: the LJMU authors note that capsules would mean a 75 kg rider swallowing 20–25 large capsules mid-exercise.

Then there is sodium. The UCI review gives about 0.274 g of sodium per gram of sodium bicarbonate and advises monitoring blood responses when doses are repeated. On that figure, the 18 g of sodium bicarbonate in the LJMU protocol (the other 2 g was potassium bicarbonate) carries roughly 4.9 g of sodium (our arithmetic: 18 × 0.274). Maurten warns of a high sodium content and sets a maximum of two servings per week.

The Products: Maurten Bicarb System and MNSTRY Bicarb Gel 40

Maurten Bicarb System, used in the 2024 40 km study, consists of a mixing bowl, a hydrogel component and a bicarbonate component, plus access to Maurten’s Bicarb Digital System. The bicarbonate comes as mini-tablets that the hydrogel carries through the stomach, which Maurten says makes high doses more tolerable. It comes in five sizes labelled 12 to 25, which the product page does not explain; Maurten points buyers to a selection guide. A box of four servings cost €69.95 on Maurten’s Belgian store and €79.95 on its Italian store on 26 October 2026. In the 2024 study, per the maker’s instructions, 40 g of hydrogel was mixed with 200 mL of water and left five minutes, then the tablets were added and the mix taken straight away.

MNSTRY Bicarb Gel 40 Lemon 1:0.8, the LJMU gel, was announced in June 2025, Escape Collective reported. Each gel has 40 g of carbohydrate and 5 g of sodium and potassium bicarbonate, which MNSTRY says is encapsulated for release in the small intestine; it markets the gel for loading before the start, during competition and topping up. MNSTRY’s EU store charges €20.90 for six, €39.90 for 12 and €74.90 for 24.

What Amateurs Can Take From This

None of the sources sets an in-race bicarbonate protocol for amateurs. The figure below sets the established pre-exercise window against the gel schedule the LJMU riders followed.

What the sources do say:

• The established protocol is a pre-exercise dose, as above. For road and gravel, the UCI still asks for more discipline-specific evidence.
• In-race gels are new. The LJMU authors float one bicarbonate gel an hour as a top-up, or three to four gels over 60–80 minutes before a decisive climb, and call both hypothetical.
• Carbohydrate comes first. The LJMU result sits on top of 80 g/h; see our guides to on-bike fueling and 120 g/h carbohydrate intake.
• Practise it in training. The UCI position statement says nutrition strategies should be individualised and practised in training, and names sodium bicarbonate among supplements that can add to gut distress.
• Decide case by case. The same statement says supplements should be judged case by case and, even for riders who are never drug-tested, limited to reputable third-party batch-tested products. The 40 km study excluded riders with diagnosed gut disorders, high blood pressure or kidney problems, and anyone taking medication.

World Athletics frames the finding around hard efforts late in a race. That is what the study tested: in a laboratory, in 11 riders. Caffeine, another of the UCI’s six supplements, is covered in our caffeine guide, and the wider picture in our cycling nutrition guide.

Sources

• The new study: Norte BR, Hickman A, Megias AM, Mosquera-Lopez E, Bermon S, Garrandes F, Adami PE, Johnson KO, Mahon E, Shepherd SO, Strauss JA, Louis JB, “Bicarbonate and Carbohydrate Co-Ingestion During Exercise in a Novel Gel Format Improves Time-Trial Performance After 3 h of Moderate-Intensity Exercise in Trained Cyclists”, Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports 36(10):e70373 (October 2026), doi:10.1111/sms.70373 (open access full text). World Athletics, “Nutrition study highlights performance benefit of sodium bicarbonate and carbohydrate co-ingestion”, 2 October 2026.
• Position statements and reviews: Burke LM et al., “UCI Sports Nutrition Project: Position Statement on Nutrition for Cycling”, International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism 36(6):700–726 (published online 15 September 2026). Whitfield J, Egan B, Del Coso J, Derave W, Saunders B, Burke LM, “UCI Sports Nutrition Project: Considerations and Applications for the Use of Sports Foods and Supplements to Improve Performance in Cycling”, International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism 36(3):187–214. Grgic J et al., “International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: sodium bicarbonate and exercise performance”, Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 18:61 (2021), doi:10.1186/s12970-021-00458-w.
• Other studies: Shannon ES, Regnier A, Dobson B, Yang X, Sparks SA, McNaughton LR, “The effect of sodium bicarbonate mini-tablets ingested in a carbohydrate hydrogel system on 40 km cycling time trial performance and metabolism in trained male cyclists”, European Journal of Applied Physiology 124:3671–3682 (2024), doi:10.1007/s00421-024-05567-3. Abbud UN, Caires LP, Casagrande TF, Mendes GEF, Marzochi LL, Abbud-Filho M, Caldas HC, “Effects of Hydrogel-Based Sodium Bicarbonate Supplementation on Cycling Performance and Acid–Base Balance in Trained Cyclists: a Pilot Randomized Crossover Study”, Sport Mont (2026), doi:10.26773/smj.260211. Gough and Sparks (2024), Leach et al. (2023) and Dalle et al. (2021), as summarised in the UCI supplement review.
• Products: Maurten, Bicarb System product page and FAQ (Belgian and Italian stores, read 26 October 2026); MNSTRY, BICARB GEL 40 Lemon 1:0.8 product page (EU store, read 26 October 2026); Escape Collective, “Mnstry announces a new Bicarb and carbohydrate gel”, 1 June 2025.

Prices are the makers’ own store prices on 26 October 2026 and differ between markets. No affiliate links were used in this article. This article summarises published research and is not individual medical or dietary advice.

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