The first time Maeve Plouffe trained in the heat, she was in Paris in the lead-up to the Olympics. It was supposed to be an easy ride to help get used to the conditions. When she returned, she fainted from heat sickness.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s how badly I was affected,\u201d she says. \u201cRacing in extreme heat is like playing chicken with your environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
What was once a speciality has now become standard, the Australian Olympic cyclist says, especially ahead of big races such as the Tour Down Under that are known for intense conditions. Training starts a month in advance, up to three times a week, and takes place in a glass box roughly the size of a small conference room within the South Australian Sports Institute.<\/p>\n
Sessions run for an hour, during which the chamber is heated to between 36C and 40C to simulate riding for extended periods in extreme heat, in service of mentally and physically preparing competitors for extreme conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cRacing in it feels like your whole body is encapsulated in heat,\u201d Plouffe says. \u201cEverything just deteriorates so fast and there\u2019s no relief from it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n Cycling as a sport is particularly vulnerable to its environment, especially as climate change pushes extremes to grow more intense.<\/p>\n That reality is beginning to force an uneasy conversation within the sport about its relationship with fossil fuel producers such as the Australian oil and gas company Santos<\/a>, sponsor of the Tour Down Under, which begins on 16 January.<\/p>\n Santos has held naming rights to the race since 2010 and renewed its relationship in January last year, giving it the rights until 2028. It has faced protests and calls for divestment and dissociation<\/a>, particularly after the 2019-20 bushfires.<\/p>\n Riders themselves are increasingly uneasy about the relationship. Plouffe, who holds degrees in law and marine biology, does not criticise Santos or the race organisers directly but says the next three years give organisers time to plan the race\u2019s future.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it will just resonate better for a lot of people involved if there was an option to have a different sponsor of the event,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Brodie Chapman, the former national road champion, agrees.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s certainly time that the Tour Down Under considers a new sponsor to more align with the values of the modern world, the Australian people, the natural world and athletes,\u201d Chapman says.<\/p>\n The former national champion Cyrus Monk says it is \u201cembarrassing\u201d that Santos sponsors the biggest race in Australia.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d love to see another sponsor to be able to step in,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Monk says it is often assumed another sponsor would be difficult to find, but it is not clear this is true. Race organisers and Santos have not been transparent about how much the company pays for naming rights, nor how much the South Australian government kicks in<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously the dream would be similar to the [Belgian] Renewi Tour<\/a>, where the sponsor is a renewable energy company that is doing something better for the environment,\u201d Monk says.<\/p>\n Santos has not responded to questions but a spokesperson for the Tour Down Under praises the company as a \u201cvalued naming rights partner\u201d, saying \u201cwithout their support we would not be able to deliver a world class international bike race\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cTheir support has enabled our event to grow which has seen the introduction of a women\u2019s WorldTour race with equal prize money to the men, and the TDU being recognised as Australia\u2019s best sporting event in 2024,\u201d the spokesperson says.<\/p>\n The spokesperson says \u201cnatural gas produced by Santos plays an important part in South Australia\u2019s world-leading investment in renewable energy, and its carbon capture and storage project at Moomba decarbonising the equivalent of 700,000 cars off our roads each year\u201d \u2013 an argument that has also been echoed by the South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas,<\/a> and the company<\/a>.<\/p>\n Neither Santos nor race organisers have responded to questions about whether the company helped draft the Tour\u2019s response.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Santos received approval for its Barossa gas development<\/a>, considered one of the dirtiest gas projects in the country. The Moomba CCS project has so far been able to capture just 4.6% of Santos\u2019s total corporate emissions, according to one analysis<\/a>.<\/p>\n