RISE OF THE MACHINES

With artificial intelligence creeping into more and more areas of our sport, James Shrubsall sets out to find out how it's changing cycling and what we can expect in the future

- James Shrubsall

As you may or may not have noticed, artificial intelligence has already infiltrated cycling. It might feel like barely a day goes by without seeing some eye-opening AI related headline, but fear not, as machines become more involved in decision making, this isn't some dystopian Skynet, doomsday scenario.

AI has its proponents and its detractors – in a similar way that the internet, television and even supermarkets have done before it. But whether you can’t wait for it to become even more powerful or the whole thing makes you a little nervous, AI has well and truly arrived. In fact it may already be making your life in cycling better – or at least different – without you realising.

From training apps to city transport management to WorldTour team nutrition and more, AI and machine learning is reaching its digital tentacles into all corners of cycling, whether for sport, leisure or transport.

One use of AI that has been in the headlines recently is in sports nutrition. It is already used in consumer apps such as CalorieMama, whose photo recognition software uses AI to determine the calories in your meal; Nutrition. ai, which claims it will answer any questions you have on the subject – with the help of AI, of course; and Hexis, which might be most pertinent to readers of this magazine thanks to its ability to calculate your nutrition requirements based on the demands of your riding.

However, one of the highest profile uses of AI for cycling nutrition is the Jumbo-Visma WorldTour team’s use of it at last year’s Tour de France, where its rider Jonas Vingegaard triumphed ahead of Tadej Pogačar.