You can use white sugar (sucrose) as a drug to boost performance. It's not a big boost and mostly in your head but it is real - if you are using it with a body that has been completely sucrose free. (I say sucrose. I did this experiment long before the modern synthetic sugars in today's pop, etc.)
I went totally sucrose free in my racing days save a candy for the late mile of the my longest races and two cubes of white sugar in coffee on marathon rides to pull off the last 50 miles home. As a drug. And it only worked if I rarely used it.