Team Sky Recipes for cycling success (2024)

Despite their opulent rides and posh kit, one thing that ties the pros to us amateurs is the need for fuel – it’s one of the few relatively level playing fields left. So to get an insight into what makes the pros tick from the inside out, we called upon Team Sky chef Henrik Orre, author of Rapha’s sumptuous Vélochef cook book, to ask him how he feeds them through the unforgiving winter months.

After a stint working for the Norwegian Cycling Federation, Henrik signing on with Team Sky in 2011. In the ever-changing world of nutrition, Henrik and his Team Sky chefs know that despite thousands of pounds worth of high-tech gear, if the riders aren’t properly fuelled they won’t win. It’s as simple as that. For the full interview, head to Page 4.

Team Sky’s Kitchen Essentials

Have these essentials at hand in your kitchen and you’ll always reach for something healthy!

Pre-ride meal

Before a long winter ride (6 hours+), Chris Froome and co will snaffle both an omelette and porridge (see next below) to give them the required levels of carbs and protein. If you don’t have the stomach for it, stick to a warm bowl of porridge. These simple recipes will help you eat and perform like the real pros. Bon appétit!

Omelette

Serves 1

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 eggs
• 3 tbsp water
• Salt
• Black pepper
• 2 slices of ham

Method

1. Heat a frying pan on a medium heat, add the olive oil and swirl it about
2. Beat the eggs and the water well in a bowl
3. Add salt and pepper
4. Pour the eggs into the frying pan and fry lightly until cooked through
5. Cut the ham into strips and put on the omelette

Food fact #1

An omelette provides a high level of protein and needed fats that will provide sufficient energy blocks for those long sub-maximal base miles. Porridge, meanwhile (see recipe in this article) is packed full of complex carbohydrates and fibre, which supplement existing glycogen stores via slow digestion. This constant production of energy helps maintain stable levels of blood glucose. Being cooked, both of these meals will be ingested more easily, and the warm feeling they provide will go a long way when it’s -2ºC outside.

Oat porridge

• Serves 2
• 60g oatmeal
• 300-350ml water
• 2 tbsp raisins
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• A pinch of salt

Method

1. Bring all the ingredientsto the boil on a medium heat while stirring
2. Let the porridge simmer for 3-4 minutes
3. Add some water if it looks too thick
4. Top the bowl up with nuts, apple and banana slices to add more flavours

In the saddle

Eating right before a ride will give you a good foundation and will help ensure you don’t bonk while out on a ride. However, don’t be fooled into thinking that’s that. Keeping your energy level topped up is just as important as keeping your eye on the road. If you slip below a certain point, it’s nigh on impossible to regain the same levels of energy as before. This is why a constant stream of sustenance is required every 20-30 minutes. Team Sky enjoys specially prepared rice cakes that provide around 25g of carbohydrates per portion. They’re also super-easy to make and are perfect for all those weary gel-users and flapjack-abusers among you.

Rice bar

Makes 20 bars

• 500g risotto rice
• 800ml water
• 4 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 3 tbsp coconut palm sugar
• 300g Philadelphia cream cheese
• 100ml agave syrup

Method

1. Boil the rice in the water with the coconut oil, cinnamon and coconut palm sugar
2. Let it boil until all the water has been absorbed
3. Fold the cream cheese into the rice while it’s still warm
4. Mix in the agave syrup and blend thoroughly
5. Pour into a 3-litre plastic bag with a zip lock
6. Flatten the bag and leave in the fridge overnight
7. Take the bag out of the fridge and cut the rice mix into 5cm squares
8. Wrap the squares individually in tin foil

Tip at the end of cooking, add pistachios (a good source of healthy fats) and cranberries (high in antioxidants)

Food fact #2

When exercising, your body’s need for outlandish flavours subsides and shifts towards milder tastes. Rice cakes like these will easily be to your taste while also supplying high levels of carbohydrates that are moderately high on the glycaemic index. This means they provide a quick release of energy without a sugar crash like gels and other sugar-rich products. The added cinnamon will also help your body regulate blood glucose levels, preventing severe spikes.

Post-ride meal

One way to undo all that hard work you’ve accomplished in the saddle is by eating the wrong food or not eating at all! One meal that will help you keep an eye on the fat while gorging on great tasting protein is this spicy, nutritious chicken casserole with celeriac and mango.

Chicken casserole

• 500g chicken(boneless thigh or breast)
• Oil
• 1 red chilli
• 1 red pepper
• 1 clove garlic
• 500ml canned chopped tomatoes
• 300ml apple juice, unsweetened
• 100g celeriac
• 1 ripe mango
• 100ml low fat crème fraîche
• Salt and black pepper

Method

1. Cut the chicken into small chunks and fry them in oil in a pot for a few minutes
2. Finely chop the chilli, pepper and garlic and put into the pot when the chicken starts to brown
3. Sizzle for 1-2 minutes
4. Add the chopped tomatoes and the apple juice
5. Boil for 15 minutes
6. In the meantime, cut the celeriac and the mango into 2cm cubes
7. Rapidly boil the celeriac for 1-2 minutes
8. Stir the celeriac gently into the pot and season with salt and pepper
9. Top with a dollop of crème fraîche and mango cubes

Couple this with pasta, rice (Henrik recommends wild rice) or quinoa for an all-round nutritional meal. Prepare this dish before you leave and store in the fridge, so you don’t have worry about cooking after a serious session in the saddle.

Food fact #3

Protein is key to recovery and low-fat protein is an added bonus. This is where chicken excels – being high in protein and full of amino acids, it will repair your muscle tissue and won’t line your waist with fat. The mango and celeriac will add fibre and antioxidants as well as valuable micro-nutrients into the mix.

Want to get juiced?

The main post-ride tipple that Chris Froome and his lieutenants will enjoy is a humble a vegetable juice, but don’t let that fool you. ‘A lot of people think “vegetable juice – yuck!” but it actually tastes really good,’ according to Orre, and by using highly nutritious vegetables such as beetroot, you can get a real edge in the saddle too.

Three Juices (approx 1 litre each)

Carrot Juice

• 1kg peeled carrots
• 4 peeled red apples
• 2 peeled oranges
• 50g fresh peeled ginger

Cucumber Juice

• 3 cucumbers
• 1 head of broccoli
• 6 green apples
• A bunch of flat parsley

Beetroot Juice

• 6 peeled raw beetroot
• 500ml pineapple juice
• 5 pears

Method

1. Wash fruits and vegetables carefully
2. Chop into smaller bits and set the juicer to work
3. Strain the juice when it’s done. It looks much more elegant when finally poured into a glass

Food fact #4

Beetroot juice is one of the best fluids to drink if you are looking to improve your performance. Packed with nitrates, this little red ruby enhances blood flow to muscles and can reduce the amount of oxygen needed to ride at a sub-maximal level. It’s like nature’s very own EPO – you should try it.Plus Visiting the toiletthe next day will alwaysbe an interesting affairwith beetroot!

Henrik Orre, author of Rapha’s sumptuous Vélochef cook book talks nutrition

Cyclist: Hi Henrik! Nutrition in the pro peloton is evolving. What requirements do you find yourself building into meals?

Henrik: It depends a bit on the time of the year. Around this time, the pros are trying to lose weight, it’s that period of the season. So carbs are not the focus. It’s all about high-protein diets and vegetables. It’s quite normal that they gain weight in the off-season, especially around Christmas. Now it’s the time of year where they want to lose that fat. In Sky, to help focus on high protein, we have low-carb days where the pros don’t have any carbs for breakfast before they go out for long-distance rides. This will be between five to six hours at a low intensity to just burn the fat off.

At Sky we always give them an option between meat and fish, serving it like a buffet. They eat such big portions it would look ridiculous piling it on a plate – everyone might not eat it then. Serving it like a buffet means everyone can eat what they need and what they want. With vegetables, it certainly depends on the season you’re in. Eating what’s in season is always better so you have to adapt. We cook a lot of root vegetables, particularly celeriac. Carrots, beetroot and sweet potatoes are really nice to use, alongside butternut squash and pumpkins. We always do either meat or chicken and fish. One sort of superfood we always do is our own post-ride vegetable and fruit juices, which the riders will have with their dinner.

BE: Would you say that this kind of diet would be good for everyday riders?

Henrik: I think it’s a bit too much for a normal rider who isn’t racing and just wants to keep fit. If you want to stay healthy, you should have some carbs as well. You don’t need to overload on them, but you should have porridge and an omelette so you can get the mixture of both. You can’t only have carbs or only protein – you need to ingest a healthy mix of both.

BE: So do any of the pros have particular requirements, or is it more down to what race conditions are going to be like?

Henrik: It depends on a lot of things which vary between individuals. It can depend on the weather and on the stages during a race. There are things we need to have in mind for these guys all the time. Before a mountain stage, say, or before a long stage – over 200km – then you really need to think of carb loading. If it’s a shorter, more intense stage, you reduce carbs. It’s a relatively simple process.

BE: Races like the Paris-Roubaix are typically hard, cold and wet. What sort of food would you prepare for them?

Henrik: You would definitely carb-load for a race like that – we’re talking fairly big portions of carbohydrates. For breakfast, the pros always have porridge and an omelette and depending on how long or how hard the stage is, they add carbs to their omelette, whether that’s rice, pasta or quinoa. Some simply choose to have a piece of bread. We always have options for them in the morning.

BE: And what do you recommend munching on during a winter ride?

Henrik: You need to make sure you are well fuelled for the rides, that’s half of the job, and to be really focussed on what you are eating during the ride as well. On almost every race, the guys need an intake of 70-75g of carbs every 30 minutes. One of our rice bars contains 20-25g of carbohydrates, and then they can drink a bottle of energy drink which would give them roughly 50g, meaning they can maintain their high-carb levels.

BE: Thanks, Henrik. Finally, what type of meal would you recommend either side of the ride?

Henrik: For long rides, you need to have a good bowl of porridge with nuts, these will add protein and a bit more fats, too. You could have soft muesli, but it’s better to have something that’s cooked because your stomach will digest it much better than, say, granola. Ingesting a cooked meal means that you won’t have to sit there in the saddle and feel like you have to burn it all off again.

Post-ride, you want to have a meal that’s low in fat with a moderate level of carbs and is high in protein – just like my spicy chicken casserole with celeriac and mango (see left). It has chillies and mango, and is cooked in apple juice broth with tomatoes – ultimately giving you a lot of low-fat protein. You can add rice, pasta, quinoa or even sweet potatoes to it – and the stew on top is very, very good!

Vélochef by Henrik Orre is £35 from rapha.cc

Photography curteosy ofPatrik Engström