How Tour de France Bicycle owner Ben Healy Fuels 4,000-Calorie Days

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Tour de France cyclists require plenty of energy to fuel themselves via the three-week race. Winner Tadej Pogacar coated the two,052 miles in 76 hours – equal to a median tempo of 27mph regardless of the 52,500m of elevation – whereas EF Education-EasyPost rider Ben Healy completed 28 minutes again in ninth place.

The Irish rider, nonetheless solely 24, managed to fulfil a ‘childhood dream’ of profitable a stage on the prestigious French race, and even wore the yellow jersey for levels 10 and 11. ‘It’s a fairly surreal expertise to be sincere,’ Healy tells Men’s Health. ‘It’s a dream for any bike owner to win a stage, and I not solely managed to do this, which was the principle purpose going into it, however carrying yellow was simply unreal. And to then maintain on for a high 10 end – it is one thing I by no means actually anticipated I might do.’

Such exertion on the bike required loads of consideration in regard to diet, with Healy explaining the efforts from the group that go into guaranteeing the riders keep in optimum situation, each bodily and mentally.

‘It’s fairly simple for us off the bike, as a result of we’ve bought such an ideal group round us which can be all the time taking care of us,’ he says. ‘We’re given the proper dietary supplements, and issues like cherry juice to assist us recuperate. We’ve additionally bought cooks who cook dinner us the suitable meals, and nutritionists is telling us how a lot to eat and what to eat. We simply get given a plan and we observe it.

‘It’s all about getting sufficient gasoline in. And that’s not a simple factor in a grand tour whenever you’re burning like 4,000 energy on high of your regular every day expenditure day by day. You simply must be sure to get the carbs in, get the protein in, which is massively helped out by a nutritionist. I’ll be having between 120 and 150 grams of carbs an hour on the massive days, so that you’re simply completely smashing all the pieces to be sincere.

‘It’s also key to stay hydrated. Plant-based drinks like Oatly are great for that, and they also contain all the benefits of a good balance of macronutrients, essential minerals, and vitamins.’

Healy and his team-mates aren’t anticipated to eat clear and bland meals, nonetheless. As their our bodies turn out to be more and more drained throughout the race, so do their minds. Healy highlights the way it’s vital to maintain meals attention-grabbing and thrilling, somewhat than focusing totally on essentially the most optimum gasoline that may help in efficiency.

‘It’s all about balance – you can’t simply be consuming plain rice for 3 weeks, as a result of flavour fatigue is an actual factor,’ Healy provides. ‘It’s about making knowledgeable decisions and having some selection, which is what our cooks do very well. We have a little bit of a cheat meal each every now and then, as a result of it’s about mentally staying recent. An instance of that’s we had a superb steak and fries earlier than the final relaxation day, and it was so refreshing to eat one thing like that as a result of it revitalises you for the following couple of levels.’


Headshot of Ryan Dabbs

Ryan is a Senior Writer at Men’s Health UK with a ardour for storytelling, well being and health. Having graduated from Cardiff University in 2020, and later acquiring his NCTJ qualification, Ryan began his profession as a Trainee News Writer for sports activities titles Golf Monthly, Cycling Weekly and Rugby World earlier than progressing to Staff Writer and subsequently Senior Writer with soccer journal FourFourTwo.

During his two-and-a-half years there he wrote information tales for the web site and options for the journal, whereas he additionally interviewed names corresponding to Les Ferdinand, Ally McCoist, Jamie Redknapp and Antonio Rudiger, amongst many others. His standout reminiscence, although, got here when getting the chance to talk to then-Plymouth Argyle supervisor Steven Schumacher because the membership received League One in 2023.

Having grown up a eager footballer and enjoying for his boyhood aspect till the age of 16, Ryan bought the chance to characterize Northern Ireland nationwide futsal group eight occasions, scoring three targets towards England, Scotland and Gibraltar. Now previous his peak, Ryan prefers to combine weightlifting with working – he achieved a marathon PB of three:31:49 at Manchester in April 2025, however credit the warmth for failing to get beneath the coveted 3:30 mark…

You can observe Ryan on Instagram or on X  




This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its unique location you may go to the hyperlink bellow:
https://www.menshealth.com/uk/nutrition/a65589254/ben-healy-tour-de-france-nutrition/
and if you wish to take away this text from our website please contact us

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