During a stage race, such as the Tour of France or the Vuelta, our riders get breakfast, two recovery meals, dinner and an evening snack on a daily basis, and sometimes a pre-race meal. All meals are prepared with fresh ingredients and planned ahead based on the stage of a particular day. For example, while our riders eat their breakfast, the recovery meals are already prepared as those meals need to be brought along in the bus (chilled). Our riders need to have their recovery meals available directly after the ride.

Planning is key, both in terms of when and what is cooked as well as a meal plan for the entire week. It is called meal prepping. A meal can be prepared in advance if you have a meal plan for the week to come. Vegetables and meat can be chopped in advance and stored in the fridge. On the day you want to cook that particular meal, all you have to do is to… cook!

Pre-packaged products are left out of the meal plans for our riders, because it can be homemade very easily, which is healthier and tastier. Take for example the basics of a pasta sauce. All you have to do is to boil tomatoes and puree the last bit with a blender. It will not take you more than 10 minutes. Are you really on a tight schedule? Cook a large portion when you do have some time and store 1/2 person portions in the freezer.

Are you looking for more time savings when it comes to cooking? Choose ingredients which will take little to none time to chop. A favorite recipe from our riders which is quick to cook and healthy: pasta with pesto and parma ham. Boil the pasta, drain and mix in the pesto. Put the pasta-pesto on top of some arugula, and add some cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, parma ham and parmesan cheese on top. Add flavor with olive oil, pepper and salt. Try it one time and you will see that there are no excuses when it comes to healthy eating.