Chris Froome is possibly the best cyclist on the world in the world at this time. But 10 years ago few predicted that it would end up becoming the great reference that is today. At that time it was a runner
Random whose career seemed focused on being one more of the platoon. Maybe he ended up winning some classic, perhaps some stage victory in the big laps. But it was not, much less, a great champion project.
One of the keys to its success seems to be, among other things, in the strict and diet that follows. The plan that began just 10 years ago to lose weight and, at the same time, increase its pedaling power, has completely transformed its physique thanks to the ultra -planned cycling approach to cycling of the Sky team.
Froome managed to lose weight by 10 kilos and raise its weight-power ratio to 6.25 watts per kilogram
In 2007, the first year he competed as a professional, Froome weighed 75.7 kilos with 21 years. In 2013, when he won his first Tour of France, he gave on the scale 65.8 kilos. Almost 10 kilos less! In 2018 he could conquer his fourth tour in five years and, at 32, he remains below 70 kilos of weight by measuring 1.85 meters.
This weight loss helped him significantly improve his level on the bicycle, especially in the mountain. In scientific terms, the measure that is used in cycling to calculate performance is the weight-power ratio (W/kg), which becomes the watts that are capable of generating a cyclist for each kilo.
A cyclist with a high level moves in the hequilla of the 4 to 4.5 watts per kilogram. In a professional cyclist this ratio is usually at an average of 5.5 w/kg, reaching 6 W/kg in the case of large runners. Chris Froome's weight-power ratio is approximately 6.25 w/kg!
What changes in your diet introduced the Froome to achieve this transformation? According to him he confessed in an interview with the Irish newspaper
The Independent, the first measure that applied was
"starve".
During the preparation for the return of 2011, in which he was second, he reduced the amount of calories he would eat every day.
"I think I lost weight for that return of 2011 in an unhealthy way".
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After that career he decided to change his nutritional planning. He stopped counting the calories, eliminated carbohydrates, got rid of copious breakfasts and built a diet based primarily on proteins.
Instead of hungry to prepare a great career in stages and then allow a few weeks relaxing the diet, he adopted a route that allowed him to stay in the same weight in a sustained way throughout the year. With his new menu in the summer of 2012 he was second in the Tour of France and, a year later, he would win his first round.
What does Chris Froome eat?
The menu that follows Chris Froome is no secret. In his biography he dedicates pages to talk about his diet and how he sets meals. Thus, for example, about what he takes for breakfast says the following: "
I try to go light. In the morning I limit myself to a bowl of oatmeal and a two -egg tortilla. Nothing else. If you run a great stage that day, breakfast a three -egg tortilla and a small amount of white rice. "
James Morton, head of nutrition of the Sky team, is the one in charge of monitoring every gram that Froome ingest. Its plan is based on the following: no carbohydrates during periods of preparation and some carbohydrates in competition.
"This concept of journalizing the daily intake of carbohydrates is the most exciting part of sport nutrition in the last decade",
Morton explains.
In the nutritional plan that Morton has prepared for Froome, the recommendation to eat is included
"Between 2 and 2.5 grams per kilo of its body mass every day, every three or four hours". The rice pancakes that the Sky team elaborates next to the drums and energy bars take the menu during the tour stages. When it is not on the bicycle, the diet is filled with avocado, eggs, salmon, fruits and meat fillets.
