Fuelling the Tour de France: Secrets of the team kitchens

Nowadays, some riders use glucose monitoring devices during training with relation to how long it takes from ingesting and getting into blood. They are now measuring more and more things, and food is a crucial role.

Glucose monitoring is banned during races, but I guess that is why you don't see some cyclist collapsing like as 15 years ago is because they understand their glucose levels.

For sure, doping it's still a fear, but these guys cannot climb Galibier at that speed only with storoids/drugs, it's insane the effort that they did over the year.

I'm a bit sad that a topic I find so interesting mostly gathers knee-jerk reactions here on HN.

Yes, doping, blah blah we get it. But the logistics of TdF is insane. With a new city every day, things need to move fast and preparations start early. For instance Uno-X team has a small trailer with 800 kgs of ice they travel around with, after having trouble sourcing enough ice in the small villages they stay at.

Actually having your own chef source stuff is one way to avoid accidental doping scandals.

I've read the Velochef book and like the recipes there. One thing I've never appreciated before is how hard it is to actually get this amount of calories down. Especially since much of it must be consumed on the bike so needs to be easy to transport/store/eat on the fly. And eating while working out can be tough on the stomach. EDB finally got his break through when they managed to nail a nutrition he didn't get cramps from eating.

The part about not eating too much fibre because it irritates the gut reminded me of an amusing anecdote in Dan Martin's autobiography, where he talked about coming (I think) third in The Tour and was sitting with Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas from Team Sky (now Ineos Grenadiers) after the finish in Paris. He was looking forward to a big burger and chips, and Froome and Thomas were discussing how they were really looking forward to a nice salad (i.e. lots of fibre). He partly admired the dedication, but at the same time wondered how on earth they could live like that.

Regarding drugs, yes it´s most likely still happening, but nowhere near the levels it used to be.

Riders are tested a lot and have to provide year-round whereabouts for random testing. They also have a frequently updated blood passport to detect sudden changes in values caused by PEDs. It can never be fully waterproof, but at least serious efforts are made.

Note for everyone that will come in here to say the secret is drugs : In cyclism taking drugs is not considered a secret, it's common practice.

> "The food I make is all transparent," says (chef) Blandy. "There are no rich sauces, it's all plain, simple cooking with a light amount of seasoning, light amount of oil, fresh herbs and citrus.

That’s some top-notch nominative determinism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_determinism

If you think you have no interest in cycle road racing I strongly recommend watching the Netflix series Tour de France Unchained. I watched it on a whim with no interest whatsoever in road racing and I found it addictive and it got me hooked on the sport (to the extent I can be hooked - UCI is a garbage organisation that makes it as difficult as possible to actually watch it).

Start with series 1, even though it's 2 years out of date. They explain how the sport works, and they skip over this in series 2. It's important information.

That any human can complete a race like this is still mind boggling to me, regardless of what you eat.

A great basic formula I stole from NorCal Cycling's YouTube channel for coming up with a nutrition plan for a bike ride is:

TRAINING TIME(HOURS)x60=CARBS(GRAMS)

https://youtu.be/WNhOAIMDmQ0

I wish these races were without any assistance at all, and without food/liquid at the start, a bit like in the past, if you're hungry try to spot a fruit tree, if you've a flat repair yourself, thirsty stop at next fountain

I enjoyed this show about feeding the tour riders:

Eat. Race. Win. https://www.amazon.com/Eat-Race-Win-Season-1/dp/B086HVQ5RB

Related, Unchained (https://www.netflix.com/title/81153133) has been an interesting view into the race although food isn't discussed at all.

Before Eat. Race. Win. I had this entirely uninformed idea the food the riders ate would be incredibly streamlined and controlled - I was thinking something like Soylent and protein powder and supplements. To see them chowing down on "normal" food and drinking alcohol (at all) was surprising for me.

> "Instead of putting flavour in with cream, salt and butter we're adding it with herbs and citrus because they are low calorie and contain antioxidants."

Aren’t they trying to maximize calories?

I try to make sure my pre-ride meals and in-ride fueling and hydration are adequate after I faded badly on my first 100K ride but this is more than one step beyond. I'm sure I could do better but it wouldn't have the effort vs. results that pro riders demand. I'm just happy to be able to ride.

I recently participated in an 85 mile race, and all the nutritional advice boiled down to.. drink a water bottle with a ton of pure sugar and some table salt every 10-20 miles. Bananas and gummies etc. were had, but mostly because they're pleasant to consume.

Watching the TdF, I wonder how the cyclists cope with the motorcycle/car right in front of them spewing exhaust in their faces the whole race.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on this stuff, and then someone finds the right, undetectable doping mix, and bye bye.

> Not so long ago, the professional cycling world's approach to fuelling was remarkably basic. [...]

> These days, it is an entirely different prospect, with vast sums spent on custom-built food trucks, personalised nutrition apps and meticulously planned meal regimes all in the name of performance enhancement.

> For the nutritionists and chefs tasked with providing sustenance to power their team's riders over 2,170 miles in the coming weeks there are principally two dilemmas [...]

> The answers are gleaned from a year-round process that begins in December during pre- season training.

You know that it has become the Sport Of The 0.0001% when...