Ever wondered what goes into fuelling a top-level cycling team’s collective appetites during massive races such as the Tour? The Food Programme on BBC Radio 4 set out to answer that question in an episode titled Fuelling the Peloton and it makes for a pleasant listen.
- Porridge, pasta and protein: The chef who fuels Team Sky for the Tour de France
- How to ride your first century, double century, or longer ride in 2018
Presented by journalist Rebecca Charlton, herself an experienced racer, the programme goes behind the scenes with Team Groupama FDJ chef Sean Fowler at this year’s Giro d’Italia.
Charlton also talks to other experts on the subject, including former Tinkoff-Saxo chef (and author of The Grand Tour Cookbook) Hannah Grant, but this isn’t a dull dissection of nutritional science, it’s a nicely informative bit of radio with some good anecdotes and a bit of cycling colour.
I particularly liked the detail that Grant would reward her team's riders with a tiramisu when they won a stage, meanwhile the entire endeavour of feeding some of the world's hungriest athletes sounds manic…
The Food Programme is available to listen to here, or wherever you get your podcasts.