Atlanta-based sports technology company Supersapiens and Team Qhubeka ASSOS, a UCI WorldTeam cycling team based in South Africa, have partnered for the 2021 race season.
Supersapiens, the first direct-to-consumer energy management ecosystem, utilizes the Abbott Libre Sense Glucose Sport Biosensor, the first glucose sport biosensor designed specifically for athletic performance, to help the team manage their fueling strategies in training, racing, and recovery.
Team Qhubeka ASSOS, formerly NTT Pro Cycling, is Africa’s only UCI-registered WorldTour cycling team. In 2020, the global outfit won the first virtual Tour De France. The team signed some of the world’s best athletes for 2021 including Domenico Pozzovivo (Italy), Giacomo Nizzolo (Italy), Sergio Henao (Colombia), and Fabio Aru (Italy).
With the Supersapiens app paired to the Abbott Libre Sense Glucose Sport Biosensor, Team Qhubeka ASSOS riders and staff will learn and train with real-time fueling data and powerful retrospective analysis tools. Continuous glucose monitoring will allow team riders to better understand their body’s individual fueling requirements, discover stable and sustainable fuel sources, dial in their pre-race glucose loading strategy, and maintain their optimal fuel ranges during races — allowing their body to put out it’s maximum effort without concern for running out of energy.
“Our team name Qhubeka means ‘to progress’ or ‘to move forward’ in Nguni,” said Doug Ryder, team founder and principal. “Not only will our team be focused on raising funds to purchase bicycles that will be used to improve lives, our partnership with Supersapiens also gives us new insight to better glucose management. This information and what we learn, will be shared with the company and improve performance for athletes around the world. All of this is true progression.”
Team Qhubeka ASSOS will also kick off an affiliate program with Supersapiens. Athletes in the eight countries where Supersapiens is available can purchase the ecosystems and a portion of the sales will support the team and their mission to improve lives via bicycles.
The Supersapiens ecosystem includes the Abbott Libre Sense Glucose Sport Biosensor, the Supersapiens app, and a wrist wearable device in the final stages of development that displays data from the biosensor in real time. The app continuously tracks glucose data and allows athletes to create Events — workouts or races, meals, and rest — so they can correlate specific glucose levels with their body’s physiological performance during racing, training, and recovery. And the Education Hub offers deep and insightful information to help athletes better understand glucose and the impact it has on performance, so anyone can learn how to optimize fueling for sustained performance.
