Tour De France Diet: What The World's Best Cyclists Eat

Participants of the Tour de France race lose up to 6000 kcal every day. How cyclists restore energy expenditure. How many calories do Tour de France riders burn and get per day. Nutritious food for athletes

The Tour de France road cycling race lasts 21 days and requires inhuman endurance from the participants. During the Great Loop, cyclists cover up to 4,000 km and burn about 6,000 kcal every day. Such a loss of energy could be restored with three kilograms of steak or two boxes of protein bars, but Robbie Ketchell, a sports consultant for the Garmin Sharp team, decided to improve the menu for his wards.

The nutritional rules of the best riders of the Tour de France will be useful to anyone who wants to recover as quickly and safely as possible after serious energy expenditure.

Breakfast 4 hours before intense exercise

Garmin Sharp cyclists have breakfast at 8 am, 4 hours before the start. On their table - oatmeal, white rice and noodles (to choose from). Athletes eat only what they like. Ketchel is sure that when a person eats with pleasure, his body recovers faster. Besides, if you don't stuff the racers with tasteless food, they will eat much more.

Energy cocktails - every hour

An hour after breakfast, during an hour of warm-up, racers have time to spend from 600 to 900 kcal. It is important to restore this loss before the competition begins, so the athletes are given energy protein shakes - half a liter each.

Top-up with rice bars

So that the strength does not leave the athletes at the most crucial moment, every hour they are fueled with carefully packed rice bars - salty or sweet (according to taste). There are catering areas on the track, where tired cyclists can have sandwiches for lunch. To many, such stops seem like a waste of time, but Ketchell claims that a full snack is one of the main conditions for victory.

Restoring the water balance

During the race, the athlete's body loses fluid intensively, so it needs a lot of cold water (to avoid dehydration) and sweet carbonated water (to restore blood sugar levels). Also, riders carefully monitor the slightest fluctuations in weight. Even if for some reason they do not feel thirsty or hungry, the scale will tell them that they need urgent refueling.

 

Carbohydrate mixtures for muscle recovery

After the race, every athlete needs to restore strength and muscle fibers. For this, on the way to the hotel, they are given sweet carbohydrate mixtures, boiled rice, omelets and other egg dishes, protein shakes and chocolate.

Healthy fats and slow carbohydrates for dinner

Tour de France athletes have dinner at 20:30. The cooks prepare delicious vegetable and fruit dishes for them. Favorite delicacies of Garmin Sharp cyclists are risotto with garlic, peaches in white wine, berries with goat's milk. Favor healthy fats: olive oil and nuts (almonds, cashews).

The team's dinner consists of 40% carbohydrates, 30% proteins, and 30% fats. To restore the energy balance, cyclists consume at least 2500 kcal in the evening.

You probably wonder how riders find the strength to get back on the bike after such loads. No fiction: to eliminate muscle pain, sports scientists recommend drinking black tea extract. If you have hangovers, fill 4 decaffeinated tea bags with a liter of cold water and leave in the refrigerator overnight. Should help!