Blog: pasta on the menu
When our riders race on the Italian roads, our heart for Italian cuisine starts beating a little harder. That can only mean one thing for our riders: Grand'Italia pasta on the menu. Si, delizioso! Our Performance Chef Karin Lambrechtse tells us more about this in her blog.
Pasta is an important source of carbohydrates. For our riders, but also for you. Everybody needs a certain amount of energy every day and a large part of that energy comes from carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are a good and efficient source of energy for body and mind, especially when you exercise a bit more fanatically.
The reason that pasta is so linked to top sport and, in particular, cycling dates back to the earlier years of cycling. People thought: the more pasta, the more energy, the better! Al lot of pasta was consumed before, but also after a race. The infamous pasta parties!
"Pasta is an important source of carbohydrates"
However, too much of a good thing is just not always useful. The main purpose of pasta for our riders is that it provides the body with a good dose of carbohydrates. The athlete stores these carbohydrates in the form of glycogen in the muscles. The better trained the rider is, the more glycogen he or she can store and the longer you can use your energy supply. So it is important to fill that glycogen supply optimally. This can be crucial for delivering a top performance. So, carb loading!
Our chefs, who are also sports dietitians, consciously choose the moments when pasta is served. In addition to carbohydrates, Grand'Italia pasta also contains proteins, fats and fiber. Fiber is important for good health, bowel movements and intestinal flora. Proteins contribute to the recovery and maintenance of the muscles of our riders.
/
When serving pasta to the riders, we pay attention to three important things: the preparation method, the recipe and the timing of consuming the pasta. All meals are prepared fresh on location by our chefs. We like to cook pasta al-dente and season it with a sauce or a good extra virgin oil. A classic sauce and a combination that never gets boring is pasta pesto! With pasta pesto we serve grilled seasonal vegetables, stewed tomatoes and eggplant or a fresh crisp salad when the weather is warm.
In that respect pasta is comfort food, so delicious! It absorbs flavour, has a good bite and you can vary endlessly in terms of type, shape, structure, sauce and filling. Pasta is indispensable and a favourite on the menu of our riders, for dinner but also as a recovery meal in the bus after the race. So time for a Grand'Italia pasta party!
