8,000 calories. One Giro d’Italia stage.

Ever wondered how much food a professional cyclist needs during a Grand Tour? In this video, Gijs Leemreize takes you through a full day of eating at the Giro d’Italia, discussing everything from breakfast and race nutrition to recovery meals after the stage. Alongside Gijs, our team chef explains how we decide what riders eat, how nutrition changes depending on the stage profile, and why fueling is one of the biggest performance factors in modern cycling. Because in cycling, eating enough is part of the job.

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34 Comments

  1. Imagine doing the hardest sport in the world on a toxic slave diet. Sugar, cake, bread, useless veg, coke, scant animal protein, no red meat, scant fat, lab-made gels/powders. Unreal. Plus they're all sugar and caffeine addicts.

  2. Rice pudding for Breakfast? An omelette (looking dry as a nun's Gin and Tonic )with jam on the side? Maybe in Belgium mate.

  3. Really interesting clip. Those weren't 8000 calories on the plates, but the gels are probably very intense. I watched the Giro 2026 and I take my hat off to every rider who put themselves through that.

  4. Not the healthiest diet though. I'm asking myself if they ever try some other diets? Did they ever try a ketogenic diet for professional cycling?
    What about the gut health? Do they keep an eye on that too?

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