While many athletes have weeks — or even months — between their previous major competition and the Olympic Games, some road cyclists participating in Paris this year had just 13 days to prepare.

The Tour de France, the most prestigious of the three men's Grand Tours, is a multi-stage cycling race held in France every summer that winds across the country and closes in Nice, on the south coast of France. 

"The Tour is just under 2,500 miles, I believe, and on average, day-to-day, it's between four to six hours on the bike every day for three weeks," said Matteo Jorgenson, a first-time Olympian who became the first American to finish the Tour de France in 10 years with his eighth-place performance this summer. "Typically, day-to-day, we'll climb between 1,000 and 5,000 meters — [that] was the biggest ... of elevation gain."

Every four years, the world's best male cyclists are tasked with recovering from the French course and shifting their focus to the Olympic men's road race. The route in Paris is the longest in Olympics history, standing at 272 kilometers (170 miles) long with 13 climbs totaling 2,800 vertical meters.

Jorgenson crossed the finish line in Nice on July 21. His Olympic race took place Aug. 3.

On the latest daily episode of The Podium: An NBC Olympic and Paralympic podcast, titled "Day 8: Tour de Force," Jorgenson dishes his secrets to recovering from one grueling race while preparing for another.

"Unless you're on the bike, and you're fueled and concentrated on the effort, your brain knows that it's time to recover," Jorgenson said. "A big part of this sport is being good at not bike riding ... just being good at laying down and being calm."

Hear all of that and more on the eighth daily edition of The Podium. 

New episodes of The Podium will be released every day during the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. 

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