What is Glucovibes, the new tool from Movistar, is it allowed by the UCI?

Movistar adds to its roster of collaborators the Guipuzcoan company Glucovibes, creator of a glucose sensor that communicates with its own App and that, together with a huge database with metabolic information and the use of artificial intelligence, allows the technicians of the telephone team to accurately track each cyclist remotely.

Glucovibes, Movistar's new weapon to squeeze the performance of its cyclists

Glucose meters are nothing new in endurance sports in general or in cycling in particular. However, the Basque company Glucovibes, which has just started its collaboration with the Movistar team, intends to integrate, in addition to this measurement, a whole lot of data related to the cyclist's metabolism such as daily activity, pulse, rest, etc. into a single application and, through the use of artificial intelligence, process them to give the team's coaches all the relevant information to optimize the performance of the runners.

With all this information, Movistar's coaches and nutritionists will be able to establish personalized nutrition guidelines for each cyclist, adapting these to each moment depending on the cyclist's situation, his training load, etc. since, thanks to the fact that the cyclist dumps the data obtained in the Glucovibes app, they are able to consult this data remotely and act accordingly.

Important when predicting how to act based on the data collected is the huge database, with about 1 million metabolic data, from Glucovibes and that allows to calibrate the results accurately for each user generating through its own algorithms the necessary nutrition guidelines.

“The agreement with Glucovibes is a further step in the search for excellence in sport and the fight for marginal gains that today determine victories in cycling” pointed out Juan Pablo Molinero, CMO of Movistar Team. For his part, Alberto Conde Mellado, founder of Glucovibes was “excited about this agreement and we know the level of demand of it. With this framework, technological avant-garde merges with elite cycling. Our technology will allow more customization and precision”.

Of course, the use of this type of devices is only conceived for day-to-day and training management. In everyone's mind is still the case of cyclist Kristen Faulkner, who was disqualified after finishing third in the last edition of the Strade Bianche after using a glucose meter during the race, an aspect that is specifically prohibited by the UCI that vetoes the use in competition of any device that shows metabolic data such as glucose meters or, in the near future, the devices that are already being developed to control lactate levels.