Philippa York explains how the perception of nutrition changed since 1980s

Nutrition? This whole concept was almost an affront to the French-speaking peloton of the 1980s. The established idea of pre-race food for everyone was steak and rice, finished barely three hours before the start. Philippa York explained for Cyclingnews.

"I spent quite a lot of time learning what I needed for my diet, but it wasn't something I shared with many others because that knowledge was as guarded as any training schedule. It took many months to figure out how to adjust my nutritional requirements to suit the workload I was recovering from or planning for the next days and weeks."

"Of course, nowadays the advantage of teams having a bigger budget is that they have a nutritionist, dietician, official nutrition partner and a full-time chef. That's in addition to the collective knowledge available online so you don't have to trawl through books, experiment with levels of protein intake, or calculate how many calories you're likely to burn on a mountain stage that has 4,000 metres of elevation."

"Today's nutritional complexities are a world away from the days of steak for breakfast, and the consequence is that the level of competition steadily increases as everyone discovers what works for them before, during, and after the event."