Team chef on what's required to feed a nine-rider team for three weeks
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Hannah Grant has been with the team since 2011(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
One bidon with water and one with food for Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo)(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Alberto Contador's lunch for today(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Hannah Grant preparing dinner in the kitchen(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Hannah Grant putting out the food for the riders(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Having a team chef is quickly becoming the norm at WorldTour level and as one of the top teams in the sport, Tinkoff-Saxo is no exception. Hannah Grant (@dailystews) has been with the team since 2011, with her experience of preparing daily meals for nine riders, plus staff, helping Grant to craft the soon to be released The Grand Tour Cookbook.
For Grant, preparation is key to ensuring the riders are kept happy at the dinner table each night.
"It's not hard to make really tasty, good, healthy, nutritious food. It's just about planning ahead, making bigger portions of your vinaigrettes, dressing and sauces" Grant said. "Freeze it, you all ways have it, it's easy just to make something when you come home."
With professional bike riders eating "as three times as much as normal people", cooking larger amounts of food of also a key consideration for Grant and the kitchen staff to ensure the riders are fuelled after every stage. It's not the amount of day for Grant though, with rider nutrition always at the top of the list when planning meals
"We have a nutritionist who has done a lot of calculations prior to this grand tour to make sure we know exactly what they need," Grant said.
A further challenge Grant and team chef's face is providing a variety of meals for the riders as she explained.
"On a grand tour, a 21-day stage race, you really have to change the menu up a lot to have the riders keep up an appetite. If you eat the same salad buffet every night it becomes too boring, you lose your appetite," she said.
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Watch the video below to found out more about the importance of food preparation on a grand tour and under which circumstances the riders are allowed "dessert".
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