My life lessons in fitness

The most successful team pursuit rider ever, Ed Clancy is a gold-plated authority on nailing it at the highest level year after year. Here, he shares the secrets of his consistency with Chris Marshall-Bell

- Chris Marshall

A three-time Olympic champion in the discipline, Ed Clancy is the greatest team pursuiter in the history of cycling. The Yorkshireman won three consecutive golds at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Games, also claiming five world and four European titles along the way before announcing his retirement, aged 36, at the Tokyo Olympics last year.

A dominant figure on the domestic criterium scene in addition to his track exploits, he took 10 Tour Series wins as well as three UCI victories. Speaking to me by video call from his home in Holmfirth, Clancy agreed to share the fitness knowledge he acquired over 15 years at the highest level of cycling.

KEEP IT SIMPLE: FUEL YOUR SESSIONS

When you're an athlete, you identify things that will help you get where you want to be, whether it's physiology, aerodynamics or biomechanics. As for nutrition, apart from a period early in my career, it wasn't something I focused on - ultimately, it boiled down to getting the basics right. This meant getting 60g sugar an hour into me during a ride and having a protein drink afterward. In my head, as long as I fuelled well for the session, that was all that mattered. I had a reputation for drinking a litre of Coca-Cola on long rides. I liked the taste of it and it worked - it's better than any sports drink I've had. Sugar and caffeine is the ultimate combination.

FOOD IS FUEL DON'T STRESS ABOUT THE REST

I have mates like Graham Briggs who get excited about the evening meal and head down to Marks & Spencer to carefully select all the ingredients. I'm the opposite - Mr Last Minute, grabbing this or that. I realised early on that food was just fuel, and that's it. I got the quantities right and got the correct amount of minerals, vitamins, fruit and veg into me. I did what I had to do, nothing more, nothing less, and I never suffered.