Fuelling the Tour de France: Secrets of the team kitchens

Not truthful agelong ago, nan master cycling world's attack to fuelling was remarkably basic.

Options for riders hardly extended beyond a monotonous paper of pasta, atom aliases immoderate fare that night's edifice room decided to service up.

These days, it is an wholly different prospect, pinch immense sums spent connected custom-built nutrient trucks, personalised nutrition apps and meticulously-planned repast regimes each successful nan sanction of capacity enhancement.

For nan nutritionists and chefs tasked pinch providing sustenance to powerfulness their team's riders complete 2,170 miles successful nan coming weeks location are principally 2 dilemmas: what nutrient to hole and really to do truthful successful an ever-changing environment.

The answers are gleaned from a year-round process that originates successful December during pre-season training.

While nan riders are honing their bodies, fresh for nan multitude of races ahead, nan number-crunchers eagerly stitchery information to amended understand their nutritional needs.

"We cognize their individual bodies, their metabolism, really galore calories they pain erstwhile resting and precisely what they will do successful training, nan intensity, really agelong and really galore calories they will burn," says Visma-Lease a Bike caput of nutrition Martijn Redegeld.

"Heart complaint plays a role. We person that aft each training ride. And astatine definite points successful nan play we trial lactate measurements and breathing measurements successful nan laboratory to create a bully floor plan of each rider."

As 1 of 3 teams - alongside UAE Team Emirates and Ineos Grenadiers - whose fund tends to dwarf each others, Visma-Lease a Bike has strived to spot itself astatine nan forefront of nutritional advancement.

Partnerships pinch universities purpose to guarantee they are firmly alert of developments wrong nan section "to support that competitory separator complete different teams", says Redegeld.

With riders burning an mean of 6,000 calories per time during nan Tour (around 3 times much than a resting adult), Visma-Lease a Bike person moreover begun utilizing Artificial Intelligence to thief find precisely really overmuch - and what type of - nutrient each individual cyclist should consume.

Personalisation has go progressively paramount, pinch nan squad developing its ain app,, external wherever various algorithms are utilized to make individualised nutrition plans.

When a rider comes backmost from a time connected nan bike, they simply unfastened nan app and are told precisely really galore grams of each nutritional constituent (carbohydrates, proteins, fats etc) to put connected their plate. No encephalon powerfulness is wasted beyond utilizing nan ubiquitous buffet array weighing scales.

While nan methods utilized to make precise nutritional needs alteration betwixt teams, each of them activity to a wide five-meal regular scheme of breakfast, pre-race snack, on-bike fuelling, betterment repast and dinner.

The halfway feeding principles stay nan aforesaid crossed nan peloton, though they are tweaked depending connected nan upcoming day's requirements and whether nan rider successful mobility is simply a climber aliases a sprinter, a domestique aliases a wide classification contender.

Carbohydrates - usually successful nan shape of atom aliases pasta - service arsenic nan petrol, necessitating painfully precocious depletion levels.

Proteins - predominantly food aliases chickenhearted - are ever unprocessed and fibre is kept debased to minimise gut irritation and assistance digestion, pinch consequence and vegetables often consumed successful juice form.

Vegetarians thin to supplement themselves pinch macromolecule shakes, successful summation to plant-based proteins for illustration tofu and seitan.

Riders mightiness beryllium allowed much vegetables and fibrous foods earlier flatter title days, erstwhile nan assemblage will beryllium amended equipped to break them down, while reddish meats are saved arsenic a dainty nan evening earlier remainder days.

On-bike fuelling comes courtesy of roadside soigneurs who load up musette bags pinch a assortment of high-carbohydrate forms that tin beryllium selected aliases discarded based connected individual preference.

Energy bars, gels, drinks and gummies supply speedy hits connected reliable days, while much accepted nutrient sources see bedewed atom cakes, brioches, jam sandwiches, flapjacks, saccharine breads and cakes for easier days.

The required quantities are unenviably vast. Each rider consumes adjacent to 1.5kg of atom aliases pasta each time and successful nan region of 120g of carbohydrates per hr erstwhile connected nan motorcycle - nan balanced carbohydrate contented of 5 hourly bananas.

One EF rider erstwhile went done 4 tubs of maple syrup during nan three-week race.