The Rise of High-Carb Fuelling: Why 90g an Hour Is Endurance's New Standard

Watch the front of any major marathon, grand tour or long-course triathlon today and you'll see something that would have looked reckless a decade ago: athletes taking on 90, even 120 grams of carbohydrate an hour. What was once considered a fast track to stomach trouble is now standard practice at the sharp end of endurance sport. This is the high-carb fuelling revolution — and it has changed what's possible over long distances.

The logic is straightforward. Carbohydrate is the fuel your body burns fastest at high intensity, but your stores are small — enough for roughly 90 minutes to two hours of hard work. The more you take in during a long effort, the more you spare those stores and delay the fade. Higher carbohydrate intake helps athletes hold power and pace deeper into a race, and many report less of the mental fog that comes with running low. Over the hours of a marathon or a gran fondo, that's the margin between a strong finish and a survival shuffle.

High-carb fuelling only works if your body can absorb what you swallow — and this is where it becomes a skill, not simply a matter of eating more. Two things make 90g an hour possible: the right fuel and a trained gut. The fuel must be dual-source (glucose and fructose), because glucose alone saturates around 60g an hour. And the gut itself adapts to regular high-carb fuelling, expressing more transporters over weeks of practice. Attempt 90g an hour cold, with a single-source gel, and you'll likely spend the race regretting it. Build up properly and it becomes second nature.

There's a catch the high-carb trend rarely mentions: most gels reach high carb numbers using maltodextrin and concentrated synthetic sugars — cheap, effective, and for many athletes exactly what upsets the stomach when the volume goes up. Taking on 90g an hour of highly processed sugar, hour after hour, is a lot to ask of your gut. At Veloforte we've always believed you shouldn't have to choose between performance and real food. High-carb fuelling done right should still be recognisable as nutrition, not chemistry.

That belief is why we made Limon — high-carb performance without the artificial shortcuts. Limon is our most powerful gel yet: 45g of natural dual-source carbohydrate and 220mg of sodium in a single 67g pack, made with real Sicilian lemons and no maltodextrin, no artificial anything. It puts the new standard within easy reach: two Limon gels an hour reaches 90g — the benchmark, from just two packs, with a bright, zesty finish that stays drinkable when heavy, sugary gels don't.

Limon joins a range built entirely on real, dual-source carbs — from our 22g everyday gels to the 30g Rosso — all Informed Sport certified, all made without synthetic sweeteners or colours. High-carb fuelling has raised the ceiling on endurance performance. We think it should raise the standard of what's in your fuel, too.

Performance today. Longevity tomorrow. No shortcuts required.

Limon Launches 8th August 2026, sign up below to be the first to shop