Sensory responses in the lingual epithelium to fluid texture, viscosity, temperature, salts, proteins and fats play important roles in the central responses to beverages (Katz et al 2000). Furthermore, it has been recently demonstrated that exercise performance can be affected by beverages that are washed in the mouth but not ingested (Carter et al 2004). To date there are no peer-reviewed publications directly investigating the impact of drink flavour change on exercise performance when beverage volume is controlled. The aim of this study is to examine the effect of drink flavour change on cycling performance. More specifically, this study attempts to clarify whether the consumption of a Cola beverage during the later stages of an endurance cycling protocol improves subsequent time trial performance.