"Jonas Vingegaard's favourite food is Döner kebab. I incorporate that during the Tour de France" - Visma's food coach opens up on rider habits

Diet and nutrition have arguably never been as important in the professional peloton than they are in 2024. Whilst calorie and carb counting is important, it's also vital to keep the riders happy and enjoying their meals, as Team Visma | Lease a Bike's food coach, Karim Lambrechts explains.

"Every week, groceries are delivered from the Netherlands," explains Lambrechts in conversation with NOS. "It is important to be in energy balance, as we call it. If you do not properly replenish what you consume, you run the risk of not recovering properly. That also increases the chance of getting sick, for example. Especially in a Grand Tour, it is simply important to recover as well as possible every day."

"A rider easily consumes 8,000 to 10,000 kilocalories per day. Breakfast this morning already consisted of about 1,500 kilocalories. That's three slices of bread with sweet toppings, egg and ham or cheese on top," continues Lambrechts, detailing the Team Visma | Lease a Bike riders pre-stage meals. "Then two more bowls of rice pudding and some fresh fruit and also some cottage cheese. Sometimes you think: how do they get it all down? But in the end they always manage."

Probably the most important rider to ensure is fuelled correctly, is team leader Jonas Vingegaard, who at the second rest day of the 2024 Tour de France, sits second overall, three minutes down on race leader Tadej Pogacar after 15 stages of racing. "Vingegaard's favourite food is Döner kebab," Lambrechts notes. "I incorporate that during the Tour de France by frying chicken with shawarma spices and putting it in a wrap. A little red cabbage, onions and garlic sauce on the side."

"We serve in buffet form. They are people and not machines," concludes Lambrechts, insisting the riders themselves get plenty of say in what they eat. "It is important that they also follow their feelings. If they want to take a little more or a little less, they can. We always make sure there is enough."