Inside 9,000 calorie-per-day diet of a Tour de France star with tomato ketchup rationed and champagne for winning
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THREE weeks, 21 stages, 3,320 kilometres, 176 riders and a staggering 18 million combined calories burned. That’s what it’ll take to complete next year’s Tour de France, one of the most gruelling editions of the world’s most famous cycling races in recent memory.
![[Tadej Pogacar celebrates winning Stage 15 of this year's Tour]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/tadej-pogacar-slovenia-uae-team-943708843.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Kicking off in Lille, next year’s route features six summit finishes, two time trials and a triumphant return to Paris for the lightning fast finish along the Champs-Élysées. Easy, huh?. With riders expending around 5,000 calories per stage, fuelling and recovering is no mean feat.
![[The 2025 Tour de France is one of the most brutal in recent history]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/photo-handout-aso-afp-restricted-944854381.jpg?strip=all&w=677)
So just what do they eat to maintain energy levels and explosiveness? SunSport spoke to Victor Campenaerts, winner of Stage 18 of this year’s Tour, to find out. BREAKFAST. Carbs, carbs, carbs. Every single rider in Le Tour will have their own individual nutrition plan, with team nutritionists weighing every single ounce of food to ensure the correct amount of carbohydrates are consumed.
![[Victor Campenaerts celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win stage 18 of the 2024 Tour de France]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2024-111th-edition-tour-de-917982224.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Victor - who will join Visma-Lease a Bike for the 2025 season - tells SunSport that around three hours before the stage, he will have a “massive” portion of porridge, alongside 50 grams of agave syrup, dried fruit and some banana. He relies on oat milk, almond milk or rice milk, avoiding lactose because it has a heavy impact on the stomach.
![[Porridge is Victor's go-to breakfast during Le Tour]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/oatmeal-bananas-blueberries-chia-seeds-869907096.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
A strong coffee accompanies almost every rider’s breakfast, and as one of the only legal performance-boosting aids, it has been shown to boost both endurance efforts while acting as a quick pick-me-up too. Victor’s meticulously planned food regime then focuses on the pre-race prep.
![[Victor makes sure to have one of these chews in the build-up to each stage]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/PFH_HQ-open-event_media-day_Nov24-24-1.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
