What Do Professional Cyclists Really Eat? | Nutrition Insights With Nigel Mitchell 

The pink-to-purple gradient colour of the car and the bus is beautiful.

This is genuinely one of the most insightful interviews I have heard. Thanks GCN and Thanks Ollie!

Egg whites, nutritional yeast, peanut butter, potatoes / rice, water, LIFESTYLE, and every free moment I have to spend on the seat, are all factors that keep me lean, fast, and improving weekly! This channel is GOLD! I'm grateful for this community!

Nigel was AWESOME! This is one of the best videos I've ever seen about pro cycling nutrition. He really explained it in quite a bit of detail. Most of the nutrition vids are very general, but this was fantastic. Thanks!!

Nigel is sure a likeable guy, think I'll be rooting for EF this year.

Absolutely fantastic video! It would be great to see more films related to advanced analyses related to nutrition within the peloton.

I've never been so interested about fecal matter in the bowel and gut biome health in my life. Great job gents!

As someone entering the health and fitness field this video was really cool. Here is a top level professional nutritionist discussing general methodology of how he works with athletes. Thanks for the video. aweosme!

Great vid. Would have loved something about recovery/dinner.

Very interesting. Back when I started racing in 1980, on the bike race food for me consisted mainly of bananas and a plastic baggy of sliced apple pieces dipped in lemon juice (prevented oxidation/browning). I raced till 2008, so yes, I made it to the energy bar and carbo gel era.

A good curry always fast tracks a few kilos of faecal mass from the system.

20 years ago my mom would cook me scrambled eggs and oatmeal for breakfast before a soccer game or track meet. Moral of the story: eat a breakfast your Mom would make!

Take Home Message: "Don't drink soft drinks because they are acidic/low PH, unless it's a really really hard mountain stage, then go for it, if it makes you happy!"

Nigel is such a great guy to listen to no fluff or over technical ,

I was subscribed to GCN a long time now, but this is a real good quality content, with easy lessons about food we can all prepare, even when not on the Giro...

Ollie is really starting to get comfortable as a presenter. Enjoyed this video a lot.

Those station wagons (Estates) in the background are GORGEOUS!!!!

Really interesting insight - please provide more of this content! I'm sure its evolved even further in 3 years since the video was created... Thanks GCN!

What about bananas! You didn't mentioned Bananas! How do you ride without bananas? Gotta have my bananas.

Really great piece Ollie, I've always like Nigel and his way of preparing food for the riders!

This man went from keeping it simple and water porridge to grams of carbs/hr/ in accordance to a riders stool cycle.

The number of time we saw Nigel on interview for GCN, this guy must be consider as a GCN presenter...

Being 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 , and lived in Scotland all my life.... I have never had, or heard of porridge with whisky and cream. Some romantic made that one up!

Cracking interview! Great to see Nigel again.

"A lot of teams now doing JUICING". Well, it's been known for years I guess.

Wow! That was amazing! I love the GCN tech videos because I always want to know how stuff works. The information provided was stellar!

Great insight in the realm of racing team nutrition! But what about dinner? I think it would be really interesting to see what they have on their plates for the last meal of the day. Cheers!

Awesome in depth video, without being super nerdy or preachy. Great job guys. And thanks Nigel for spending the time.

All very interesting, he was fascinating to listen to but we need a GCN does science.. does the type of beer you drink the night before affect your performance. Happy to volunteer to be part of the study.

Still one of my most favorite GCN videos. Watching it again now.

Why isn’t the bloody answer 1 large bar of chocolate, two glasses of red wine and a pork pie??

Yeah, that was great! Totally had my attention. Really packed with information that is practical easy to grasp. So much mystic is put around diet and performance. It's not enough to be slim, but, slim and healthy is so much better. No weird diets required, which is a relief. Thanks to Ollie and Nigel Mitchell, great interview and Nigel's insights.

I'm impressed with the level of detail he is going into. Very useful!

sa loob ng 3 taon ko ng pagiimprove sa bike ngayon ko lang sinimulang kinonsider ang diet. thanks gents for the info!

Great video, very informative but you forgot to ask about pudding Oli!

Very informative and practical application for a total amateur rider like me.

As always a great and informative video. Any chance of a recipe for the rice cakes?

Extremely technical and delicate when dealing with rider nutrition, many thanks Ollie, well done.

What a fascinating bloke. Really enjoyed this one

It's a real shame to see that beer plays no part in a pro cyclists diet. No wonder I'm slow 🤣🍻

Brilliant video.A massive thank you should go out to Nigel

I posted this on a similar GCN clip so i copied and pasta. Since i collect musettes i will tell you what i found in mine over the years. The following was collected during the 2019 worlds in yorkshire: The Portuguese were not too keen on the days ration of quinta de coro carne de membrillo. It is actually quite nice but maybe had too much sugar for their liking. Carne de membrillo is a jam like substance made from quince. It has tones of honey and is very sweet. It, if cooked right, is orange color and has a spongy texture unlike jam. Very nice indeed. What the portuguese also left behind was cooked rice mixed with berries and berry juice. It was purple rice cake essentially. The portuguese also left the rice mixed with turkey. I loved it. They took most of the gels and bars. One thing i like to add about the portuguese was that they left me with two pina colada gels. A flavor not readily available here in the UK. They were really, really, really nice. Prozis was the brand name. Womens elite race The swiss (Steve Morabitu) took all the rice cakes and other wax paper wrapped stuff but left the gels and the bars (how do i know it was steve? The musette had his name on it). Mens elite race The germans left all the wax paper stuff and took the gels and bars. This was the mens under 23 race...kids...all they wanted was sugar. The norwegian Edvald boasson hagen liked his real food as well it seems - that bag thrown to me also has his name on it. EBH. He took all of the rice cakes and wax paper covered treats and left me with a few gels and bars. Mens elite race What i found on the side of road after i left the feedzone to collect stuff: Brioche buns with various fillings such as nutella and banana slices, ham and cheese, various flavored rice cakes - turkey with pea's and it seems vegetable stock - quite nice as it is a bit salty and is real food, berry flavored rice cakes, coco powdered rice cakes - not nice at all, kinda bitter and was like eating a tea spoon of coco powder. Raisin topped brioche buns - supermarket brand wrapped in plastic individually. Jam roll - supermarket brand wrapped in metallic waxpaper like foil. The bottles contained either a very diluted electrolyte solution, watered down tea - i think it was green tea or water. The spanish had the best tasting one. The french left behind the most nastiest tasting gel i have ever tasted. No wonder it was left behind. It had a twist top and was yellow. I tasted it and only forced it down since it was free and i had to do quite a bit of miles to get to the next days feedstation where i camped. What i liked most was the turkey and pea rice cake, the berry rice cake, the ham and cheese brioche as well as the nutella and banana slices.

Can we get the rice cake recipe?

Thanks GCN. Informative and simple.

Ollie asks really good questions!

That’s great content ! More please ;) I like that it’s normal food they eat, just more of it. Makes it eays to apply too your own diet.

That uncomfortable gut feeling he mentioned happened to me yesterday. I did my turbo trainer for 1 hr 30mins and at first I was drinking water every 15 mins and felt I was drinking too much and got lower belly pain, but when I drank water every 25 mins/30 mins I felt great. I am on the heavy side with a belly.

Asking the right questions right here!

Great interview and direct simple answers. Well Done!

This was one of the better GCN videos. Nigel Mitchell was very, very instructive and is obviously very thoughtful. I bet the riders don't have a clue how much thought has gone into each day's nutrition.

Wow one of the most interesting videos GCN have ever made. Thanks!

Great questions and what incredible insight on nutrition for riders. Excellent video. Thank you. 😎🚴🚴🚴

EF doing very well this season.

Great interview. The team cars look awesome, better than the kit!

I would like to become a rider. Ive gotten a lot of tips, BIG THANKS! Must been lucky, first video and so much info.. Great video!

Thanks Ollie & Nigel! Superb content! A pragmatic/ holistic 'fuelling' approach which, without too much effort, any rider could adopt. My 'take-away?' Eat smart, Train smart, Perform better!

Good one guys. Some very valuable info I hope to incorporate into my diet. My hat's off to you guys for always coming up with new pertinent topics. Thank you.

Great vid, thanks!

I really love that permeable paving.

Fantastic! Confirms a lot for us. More of this please. Thank you! 🚴‍♀️🚴💕

CLIF energy gel shots really help me during my rides. After workouts I eat white rice with seafood and vegetables it works for me.

Love Nigel's inputs.

Thanks you

The best GCN video ever made I love it. 🤙

Great video. As always Olie *thumbs up*

Great video! I found very informative and learnt a few things that I had never giving any thought about before. Thank you, and keep up the good work, it is very much appreciated.

One of the most interesting videos on the channel

Really informative! More content like this please!

I can imagine the rider's conversations after juicing: Mine is a handful of kale, blueberries, raw cacao, half a banana, a cup of beetroot, five walnut halves. What's yours? The NutriBullet has a lot to answer for. :)

is it required to have a british accent to talk about road biking ?

I EAT AND DRINK EVERYTHING WHEN I CYCLE FOR LONG DISTANCE AND I EAT AND CYCLE STRAIGHT AWAY SOMETHING LIKE FILLING AND BURNING LIKE CAR WITHOUT FUEL WILL NOT DRIVE AND I FEEL GREAT RECENTLY I CYCLED 100 KM WITH CLIMBING HILLS UNDER HEAT ABOUT 35C TO 39C IT TOOK ME 3 HOURS OF CYCLING

Very informative and helpful

Ollie knocking out of the park again!!

THIS was the video I was looking for

Great insight - Danke and regards from Germany 🇩🇪

Eggs, oatmeal and steak for me. All the time. For breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Very interesting, thanks a lot !

Eat to much for breakfast and I feel bloated and uncomfortable riding the bike

fascinating interview, thanks

fantastic video! keep it up guys

Very informative video; however, I would highly recommend an enema 1 hour before each stage to reduce the retention of fecal mass.

If you drink an acidic drink , your body doesn't put it in the digestive system it directs it down the left hand side of the body to the right place , water to the right

RICE! I'm gonna start trying RICE! Thank you for the great video

Thanks for the useful tips.

Informative - thanks!

Rice cakes are without a doubt the best food during a long road race.

Great video & information from Nigel. Can you guys do the rice cake recipe in a video as I keep hearing about this stuff but never seen or eaten it. A lot of the bars have too many calories.

Someone clearly needs to make a Lager tasting sports drink for those long and warm summer rides!

20-30 grams of protein seems way too little. The minimum would for normal (I mean whats normal...) people is something like 70-80 grams and body builders go up to 2.5 times their body weight in grams. I feel like my recovery and strenght are really benefiting for a higher intake of protein (around 150 grams a day) What is the science behind so little protein? I also miss fat in their diet. As being in racing myself for years and in a later stage in my life also adding weight lifting to my weekly work outs I have came to the realization how little of an importance food is for cyclists. Other sports seems to have a lot more knowledge on this subject

0:35 like a cigarette :-)

Good Information

For My breakfast I have a mix of Quiona and porridge with honey and fruit mashed banana and ground up 4 seed mix then two egg omalett and a smoothie which is full of carbs this really does give me a tremendous boost with two bananas added. But I have to watch I don't over do it will make me feel bloated.

Fascinating ..

Scotch Oats: water, oats, and whisky (hold the oats)

What puddings do the team get, or do they have to buy it themselves? I thought Ollie was going to ask. This is the important question.

Very informative. I can't contain myself: Is Robert de Niro now in cycle sport?

Did he say anything about caffeine? Did I miss it?

Amazing insights.

Food? Straightforward. Dope, not so simple...Before, during or after the stage? 😂😂😂

Great vid