BORA - hansgrohe top 5: the professional cyclists’ favourite meals

Professional cyclists always have to watch what they eat: how many grammes of carbohydrates do I have to consume? How much protein do I need for regeneration? Is this dish definitely low in fat and sugar? And when is the best time to replenish my energy stores? It’s a science in itself and it can be quite stressful at times. It’s therefore all the more important that the food consumed puts the BORA - hansgrohe boys in a good mood and makes them happy to sit at the table, for example in the BORA Kitchen Truck. 

Some of the riders are keen amateur chefs themselves and enjoy meticulously creating culinary delights in their own kitchen whenever their busy schedule allows them to. This is the case for Nico Denz, Bob Jungels, Nils Politt and Patrick Konrad, who even considered training to be a chef before he became a professional cyclist. They all share a passion for Italian cuisine, but Asian dishes are also very popular. When it comes to the ingredients, great emphasis is placed on quality and local produce. After all, if you’re using your body as a personal engine, you should only power it with the best fuel, preferably of Italian origin! We asked around and came up with a list of the BORA - hansgrohe team’s top 5 meals. 

5th place: Stir-fry 

The list of potential stir-fry ingredients is very long. Stir-fries are perfect for creating a taste sensation with a wide range of ingredients or for transforming leftovers in the fridge into a mouth-watering meal. The possibilities are endless. 

4th place: Curry 

Curry is the second Asian dish on the list, after stir-fries, and it’s also a popular choice thanks to its versatility and wide range of different combinations. You can make meat-based, vegetarian or vegan curries, and their colours vary from red to green or yellow. This Indian all-rounder is a particular favourite of the 2022 Giro d’Italia winner, Jai Hindley, whose first name also happens to come from India.  

3rd place: Meat dishes 

A completely vegetarian lifestyle is simply out of the question for most of our pros. They’re too fond of steak with sweet potatoes (Nils Politt), specialities from their local butcher (Patrick Gamper) or fresh game (as is the case for Nico Denz, who often takes advantage of his father’s hunting permit). 

2nd place: Pasta 

A plate full of pasta – this cycling dish par excellence is quite rightly immortalised here with its very own BORA Story. Pasta is the classic go-to dish, particularly during the cycling season, and even though it’s sometimes already served up for breakfast, it still enjoys lasting popularity among cycling professionals. 

1st place: Pizza 

As mentioned earlier, when you ask professional cyclists about their culinary preferences, “Italian cuisine” is the classic answer. So in addition to pasta, pizza is a must as it clearly takes the number one spot. After filling up on pasta again and again, there are times when the team members simply crave a freshly baked pizza. As Emanuel Buchmann puts it: “Pasta always does the trick, but pizza tastes even better”.