This is an interesting mini-doco on Prime if you have the time to watch it. It follows the Orica-Scott team through the 2017 TDF mostly from the perspective of the Team Chef so it does get into the nutrition side of things without getting too scientific.
One interesting comment that was made was when they prepare the riders food for the day the Chef prefers to give them whole foods initially (sandwiches pastries etc) and only rely on gels when they really need it towards the end of each stage. The thought was the gels would create a sugar spike that would then leave the rider flat unless they had another gel - the preference was not for this to happen at the start of each stage and so real foods were the go to.
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You need to put into perspective what IF they ride on initally which is pretty low and how long a day is for them. That makes it possible for them to digest such food in the beginning. It is normally easier in the beginning to digest fat and proteins if not in really high intensity and the body has a hard time doing anything with it.
There has been a theory that if you eat high GI carbs it would trigger a higher realese of insulin and you get a high rebound effect when the bloodsuger drops rapidly and that the fatoxidation would be impacted and in total impact the performance.
It has been a theory , I am not aware of studies that showed increased performance compared to eating something with high GI…
Also put into perspective what you think of gels/bars after a really long day on the bike. Take that x 21 days… 
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