What do the best in the world do on a rest day? After a grind up some of the most grueling mountains in the world, the answer is all about recovery. And this is what they're all grabbing as soon as the stage is over.
Last Sunday, The Tour hit the high mountains, and the final climb to Plateau de Solaison, 11.3km at 9%, put every rider deep in the red. Monday, they don't race. They recover.
What are the best in the world doing to recover? Turns out it's one of the most studied recovery foods in the sport, and the reason is a compound called anthocyanins, the deep-red pigment in tart cherries that also happens to be a serious anti-inflammatory.
Here's what that actually does for you:
Cherries help calm the inflammation you just created. Hard efforts leave your muscles inflamed and under oxidative stress, that's the "wrecked" feeling the morning after. The anthocyanins in tart cherries blunt that response, limiting the secondary damage that builds up after the effort itself. Less collateral, faster turnaround.
It helps you sleep - where the real repair happens. Tart cherries are one of the few foods that naturally contain melatonin, and studies have shown athletes sleeping better after hard efforts when they're on it. Deeper sleep is when your body actually rebuilds. On a rest day, that's the whole point.
Amacx Cherry Juice+ we are seeing everywhere — the end of IRONMAN races, athletes drinking cherry juice straight away, to Team Visma-Lease a Bike and EF Pro Cycling, two World Tour teams that trust, fuel and recover with Amacx Cherry Juice+. Each 500ml bottle delivers 125mg of anthocyanins plus 30g of natural carbs, so it does double duty: it refuels what you burned and kicks off recovery. Ready to drink, nothing to mix.
Amacx Cherry Gummy+. This is the one that lives in our race bag. Three gummies pack 125mg of anthocyanins. It's built for the exact moments recovery matters most: race weekends, multi-day blocks, the taper before a big one. Chew a serving after a hard effort or before bed.
Same cherries, same science. Two formats.
