Fuelling the Tour de France: Secrets of the team kitchens

Not so long ago, the professional cycling world's approach to fuelling was remarkably basic. Options for riders barely extended beyond a monotonous menu of pasta, rice or whatever fare that night's hotel kitchen decided to serve up. These days, it is an entirely different prospect, with vast sums spent on custom-built food trucks, personalised nutrition apps and meticulously-planned meal regimes all in the name of performance enhancement. For the nutritionists and chefs tasked with providing sustenance to power their team's riders over 2,170 miles in the coming weeks there are principally two dilemmas: what food to prepare and how to do so in an ever-changing environment. The answers are gleaned from a year-round process that begins in December during pre-season training.