The food that keeps the wheels spinning
GAP, France -- Gisbert Kunz once ran the kitchen that fed 4,500 workers at the now-defunct Uddevalla shipyard near Goteborg, Sweden. The German-born chef has cooked in restaurants, hotels, a hospital, and a cruise ship, but never has he fed such prodigious gourmands as he does now.
The 65-year-old Kunz prepares all the meals for the Switzerland-based Phonak cycling team led by Floyd Landis, who has the best chance of any American rider to succeed Lance Armstrong as Tour de France winner this year. In yesterday's stage, which began a three-day climb through the Alps, Landis reclaimed the leader's yellow jersey. The tour began in Strasbourg July 1 and will finish in Paris July 23.
Cyclists' chefs make sure riders stick to a regimen. Kunz's culinary rules will be familiar to fitness freaks: Landis eats heaps of carbohydrates, moderate amounts of lean protein, fresh fruits, vegetables, and little sugar or alcohol. Kunz cooks only with olive oil and dresses pasta and rice with a little Parmesan. He allows riders to drink only from bottles of water, juice, soda, or wine that he has personally purchased and transported -- this to avoid sabotage.
Landis, who comes from Lancaster County, Pa., and rode with Armstrong for three seasons, might burn as many as 10,000 calories on the most demanding days, according to sports physiologist Allen Lim, who works with the Phonak riders. Kunz, who began cooking for the team three years ago after his daughter married the former team manager, tries to make that intake tasty. But the Tour is as much a grind for the chef as for the riders. Shortly after breakfast each day, he drives several hours to that night's hotel, which is assigned by the race organizers. He personally shops for the food.
Because they can't stop for lunch, cyclists are handed the food, and they eat as they ride. Team soigneurs, who double as masseurs and errand runners, prepare the musettes, or feed bags, that riders get at the start and in the middle of each stage during the three-week race. Soigneurs stand by the side of the road with the food, and riders slow down to pick it up. Feed-bag fare tends to be utilitarian -- the ultimate finger food, since it's being consumed in motion -- and includes cut-up sandwiches, fruit, fruit or protein bars, and Coke.
Hearty breakfasts feature rice, yogurt, and egg-white omelets; dinner might be beef tenderloin, pasta, and vegetables. And the rest of the day's intake comes in the musette. That makes three chunks of pineapple, a banana cut into thirds, and a quartered apple taste sweet on the way up France's steep mountains.
On the menu
This is what chef Gisbert Kunz typically feeds Tour de France riders:
Breakfast
8.8 ounces (dry measure) rice or pasta
4 ounces muesli
4.4 ounce carton of yogurt or fromage blanc
1 to 2 slices whole grain bread
Homemade marmalade
Omelet made with 3 egg whites and one yolk (optional)
1 to 2 slices ham and/or cheese
Freshly squeezed orange juice
Coffee
Feed bags
4 cakes or bars (including rice cakes, almond cookies, and dried fruit bars)
Cut-up fruit: three chunks of pineapple, banana cut in three pieces, quartered apple
2 or 3 finger sandwiches filled with ham and cheese or preserves or chicken salad
3 or 4 protein bars
One .15 liter mini-can of Coke
Snack ( in hotel )
Small bowl rice pudding, served tepid
Sliced fruit
Dinner
1 to 2 slices prosciutto or other cured ham
8.8 ounces (dry measure) pasta with fresh tomato sauce
8.8 ounces beef tenderloin
Ratatouille (eggplant, zucchini, tomato stew)
Yogurt
Fresh fruit
Slice of cake (optional)
Water
Glass of beer, sometimes mixed with lemon soda or lemonade (optional)
Glass of wine (rarely)
Bonnie DeSimone 