“For breakfast we need to have a bit of protein – that usually comes from an egg serving, with an omelette being the classic but just any egg serving being suitable,” Grant explains. “We also use chia seeds for additional flavouring but a very, very important thing as well is the carbohydrate intake.

“Where that comes from depends a lot on the riders. We have a lot of different nationalities and the group, of course, will change a lot from race-to-race. At the Vuelta a Espana I had a lot of guys eating porridge for breakfast, and that would be the base for the day, but at the Tour de France the riders preferred rice and pasta.

“It’s a case of finding out what works best for each individual, what powers their engine. You can’t force people to like something. We try to encourage them to choose the right things though.”

But it’s not just what you eat but when you eat it, too, as Grant explains.

“We tend to do breakfast three hours before the stage starts,” she says. “That gives enough time for the food to get down and not be coming back up when you start to go full gas.”

Experiment – but not just before an event

The best way of finding what works best for you, Grant says, is to try new things, experiment and see what fits best.

But there’s a time and a place for trying a new nutrition strategy, and the day before the big sportive or race you’ve had planned for months is not that time, Grant explains.

“Another basic rule is don’t ever change something drastically prior to something important,” she says.

“If you want to change up what you eat – perhaps you’re used to eating corn flakes but want to go for oatmeal so you can get the slow-release energies in there during the day, you don’t want to do that two days before a race, sportive or major training session.

“Give yourself a chance to adapt, and maybe start changing when you’re having a bit of downtime.

“It’s important to try new things, but listen to your body. Don’t change everything in one day, just change a few elements. If you make small changes, it’s easy to see what works and pinpoint those days when you feel great.”

Grant believes that another time to avoid experimenting is after a bad day in the saddle. For Grant, that means when she’s dealing with pros who may have crashed, suffered during a brutal day in the saddle, missed a training or race target, and she says it’s important to keep things ‘normal’ on those days.

“If you’ve had a really shit day then that’s not the time to be experimenting,” Grant says bluntly.

Go wheat-free when possible

Many diets will encourage you to cut back on wheat-based products when you’re looking to lose weight, and to Grant it’s a policy which makes perfect sense.

As you get older, she explains, your metabolism will slow down and wheat is often the cause of that bit of weight you just can’t seem to shed.

“When you’re 18, 19 and into your early 20s then your metabolism is on fire,” she says. “But once you get to 25, it will change and slow down.

“A lot of guys have the tendency to pack on some extra weight and wheat is often what’s to blame for those two or three kilos you just can’t shift.

“Wheat also increases the production of oestrogen in the male body, so men eating a lot of wheat products often have the tendency to develop ‘man boobs’!

“You can’t starve yourself, but you need to choose the right things. I would always encourage people to choose any alternatives – rice-based, oat-based foods and so on.”

What goes into a musette? And how do you make the perfect rice cake?

If you want to rely on regular food to fuel a long day in the saddle, what should you be stuffing into your jersey pockets?

When Tinkoff-Saxo’s soigneurs pack each rider’s musette, snatched from the roadside feed station during a race, they’ll include a combination of homemade food and cycling-specific nutrition products, and Grant explains that it’s not just energy, but ease of digestion that you have to consider.

 

“The soigneurs will often put a little sandwich in there – soft breads with banana or honey or cream cheese, for example, as they have to be super-easy to digest – and then on the side I’ll made soft rice bars,” she says.

“We talk about the flavours – sweet, salty and so on. The rice bars keep you full longer. You have the base energy going.

“If you just pump sugary bars and gels into your body over a number of weeks then your stomach is just going to give up on you.”

Rice cakes are popular throughout professional cycling as a source of slow energy release, packing in plenty of nutritional value for their size, and being easy for riders to digest on the go. How do you make the perfect rice cake? Grant’s book, the Grand Tour Cookbook, contains the full secrets but she does have some basic tips to share.

“The rice grain is really important when it comes to a rice cake, if you want to avoid it going super-mushy,” she says.

“Risotto rice grains do well – round rice. Then, depending on how you like the consistency, you adapt accordingly.

“If you want a little more bite, then chia seeds and fruit will take up some of the moisture. It’s worth trying a few different things before you get it right.

“The quality of your product you put in, will determine the quality of what you get out. And don’t stir it too much or it will get mushy. Leave it, and only treat it gently.”

The 20-minute protein window

If you want your body to fully adapt to the physiological stimulation you are giving when riding then adequate recovery vital – and that starts as soon as you get off the bike.

Protein plays a big part in the recovery process, helping to rebuild muscles, and Grant says you should look to get a recovery shake – homemade, of course – inside you within 20 minutes.

“When you get off the bike you have a 20-minute window when you need to get protein in as quickly as possible,” Grant explains.

“Getting the protein in during that 20 minutes will reduce your recovery time. I know when you have worked yourself to the edge and you’re completely shattered the last thing you want is a protein shake but to overcome that you have to just do it because you know your recovery will be so much better.

“For the pros, in the stage races, missing out on that window could be the difference when it comes to surviving the next few days.”

A protein shake will give the recovery process the best possible start, Grant says, and will keep things ticking over until you have the opportunity to eat ‘proper’ food.

“You have that 20-minute window and then [if you won’t be eating a full meal for a few hours] have a small rice mix or a potato salad – with chicken in, perhaps,” Grant says. “Try to keep that as low-fat as possible.”

How to make a perfect protein shake

If homemade is best, what goes into the perfect protein shake then? Well, it’s actually quite a simple process, Grant says.

“There are a lot of options for protein intake – you could make a simple smoothie and add whey protein,” she suggests.

“Make it yourself because you could find the things you can buy off the shelf are as full of sugar as a Coca Cola – and it’s more expensive.

“While some people don’t like whey protein, there are a lot of options – egg-white protein, rice protein, vegan protein. There are a lot of options to explore, make your own shakes and taste what’s best.

“Also stay away from artificial sugars. A lot of people are tricked into going sugar-free, and then end up just filling their bodies with artificial sweeteners.

“Your main meal will depend on what your plans are for the next day. If it’s just a small ride to the office, perhaps a couple of miles each way, then there’s no need to carb load in the evening. The main thing for a rider is to stay lean so if you know that you’re not going to go crazy the next day then you need to be wary of your carb intake.”

The key to staying lean, as obvious as it sounds, is to not take on more than you are going to burn off.

“Always think ahead – what sort of effort will be doing the next day, and for how long,” Grant adds. “I meet a lot of amateurs who, if it’s raining, will go to a 45-minute spin class and then come to me saying they’re not losing weight.

“If I ask what they do at home, they’re like ‘well, I was hungry so I ate a big portion of pasta’. And I’m thinking you only did 45 minutes on the bike, you haven’t used that much energy. Some will even have taken a bar or a gel first! It’s common sense.”

“You just have to always remember that what you put into your food is what you get out.”