The pros must be doing it all wrong
The pros? You mean the guys, many of which, were juicing and doing blood transfusions to perform better? Tongue-in-cheek of course...
All kidding aside, it's a physiological thing with caffeine. Some riders perform better others not. I'd say most riders will do better with a moderate caffeine intake, like a cup of coffee or tea before a race. For me, the caffeine-load made me feel a little "off". I wasn't a "cyclist" back in the day I was a cross-country skier. I skied 50-55k races almost every other weekend during winter. That was back in the late 70's early 80's.
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