Cool Bath Beats the Heat & Stress

Tuesday 21 July 2015 - 14:21

In order to beat the heat and the stress of "Le Tour" stages, every day Etixx - Quick-Step uses a cold bath at Le Tour de France. This temperature specific bath is located in the team camper outside the team hotel. There are multiple physical, as well as mental, benefits of this cold bath.

"It's a perfect way to cool down after the race," Team Doctor Helge Riepenhof said. "The cold bath serves four major functions. The first is to cool down your body temperature, immersed in a cold and nice environment. This is nice for your heated body without the risk of getting ill. The second effect is actually sitting in the water, which produces some hydrostatic pressure on the legs. Hydrostatic pressure on the legs means the vessels get a kind of compression, and this compression improves the venous flow to your heart, which improves recovery. The third function is that it's simply nice. It's a great feeling. It's a mental boost to get out of the heat and return to the cold. Also, everyone says it is an ice bath, but it is not. It is a bath between 10 to 12, and sometimes 14 degrees celsius. On very rare days it is eight degrees celsius. We set it based on how hot it is outside. But normally the temperature fluctuates between 10 and 14 degrees celsius. It's warmer than the temperature that would create ice, but cold enough to carefully and slowly lower the body temperature. The fourth function is that the bath is a natural way to reduce inflammation. You don't want to completely kill the inflammation, as inflammation has a purpose in the process of repairing muscle tissue. The cold bath reduces it to where it is in a perfect state for the body to recover and heal. Riders do it immediately after the race, but also after massages and before bed, because you sleep better. Riders don't just sit in the water. They also put their under arms in the water. There are a lot of nerves in that area that can give feedback about temperature to the brain. So, after having your under arms in the water, and across your legs, you can go to bet with your body feeling cooler and that makes it easier to go to bed, which improves sleep quality."

Image: Etixx - Quick-Step TDF Miniature Rider "Charlie" and the Cool Bath Duck. Photo ©BrakeThrough Media

Etixx - Quick-Step riders feel confident in the cold baths helping them recover better each day.

"It's really nice after long and hot stages to recover in the cold bath," Mark Cavendish said. "You feel better immediately. You cool down and your body recovers faster, where you can be ready for the next stages. The cold bath has made a huge difference at Le Tour, where's it's been so hot the past few days."

Image: Matteo Trentin in the Cool Bath. Photo ©BrakeThrough Media


Image: Matteo Trentin (top) and Julien Vermote (below) using the cool bath after another hot TDF stage. Photo ©BrakeThrough Media

"I don't just do it after the stage, but also before bed in the evening," Matteo Trentin said. "If you do it, and also put your under arms inside, you sleep really well. It is really relaxing to cool your body in a controlled way. It is really a mental boost as well, because you can actually feel the difference these baths make immediately. I noticed it more than ever the few stages in the Pyrenees. It was so extremely hot, but these baths removed a lot of the stress of the heat that otherwise can wear on you after a few days. And as anyone knows, Le Tour is a mental grind as much as it is a physical one."