CURRENT AFFAIRS
Back in 2015, Sir Dave Brailsford ventured to San Francisco in search of what many termed Marginal Gains 2.0. The Team Sky principal visited 20 tech companies, testing a wide range of products in search of the next cutting edge. One image stood out in start-up city: the sight of Brailsford playing darts with electrodes clamped to his skull. “It’s a form of cranial stimulation,” he said. “The military have been using it for their snipers to reduce the time it takes to learn a skill.” And did it work for Brailsford’s arrows? “Well, I went from being sh*t to less sh*t,” he said.
Sky, now Ineos, didn’t pursue transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in search of better performance on the bike. But Bahrain-Merida (now Bahrain-McLaren) did.
At the 2018 Giro d’Italia, the eyes of the tifosi bore down on Fabio Aru. The UAE Team Emirates rider was the sole Italian grand tour winner in the race and he wore the conspicuous colours of the Italian national champion’s jersey. But Aru’s inability to stay with the overall contenders left him chasing shadows. As the race rolled on, the home supporters’ gaze diverted to Bahrain-Merida’s Domenico Pozzovivo. After 18 stages, he sat in third and, at 35, was on track for his first ever grand tour podium. He’d been a perennial top-10 finisher, but the podium had always eluded him. Unfortunately, Pozzovivo had had a bad night.
Every night, Pozzovivo attached electrodes to his skull while his soigneur revived his legs. He’d slept like a dream and raced like one too
The Italian had experimented with tDCS throughout the race. Every night, he’d attach electrodes to his skull while his soigneur revived his legs,
