The Tour de France peloton is going wild for a cereal and marshmallow treat that could have been plucked from a kid’s lunch box.
Hand-made Rice Krispies Treats are being churned out every morning by team soigneurs and traded around the carb-crazed peloton like they’re edible Bitcoin.
“Everyone has Rice Krispies snacks at the moment,” team Lotto staffer Bieke Cornelle told Velo. “They’re the most popular bar in the peloton!”
Popular indeed.
Tadej Pogačar is among the huge majority of riders who are munching squares of turbocharged breakfast cereal to break the monotony of synthetic gels and sticky drinks.
In fact, these Rice Krispies bars are the one “real food” remaining in a nutrition plan built on scientifically concocted super-fuels.
“The only real food we use are Rice Krispie Bars. They give a high glycemic index, low fiber option,” Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe nutritionist Will Girling said.
“They also give a texture and flavor difference that provides variety over the three weeks of a Tour. They’re the new rice cake!”
Like Girling says, the rice cakes that fed the Chris Froome era are out.
These mushy piles of sushi rice and fats have been upgraded for a leaner, meaner alternative for the high-carb era.
“Rice Krispies Bars” made to an “OG” recipe or tricked out with chocolate, Biscoff, or cinnamon have become a Tour de France foodie craze worthy of TikTok. WorldTour superteams
UAE Emirates-XRG, Visma-Lease a Bike, and Bora-Bull headline the long list of squads stripping French superstores of puffed rice cereal.
The one recipe that rules the Tour de France peloton
Intriguingly, it seems not all Rice Krispies Treats are made equal.
One formulation in particular is making the Tour de France salivate over its collective stem.
The “Pock-It Fuel” recipe concocted by pro racers Lizzie Holden and Nick Schultz (of UAE ADQ and Israel-Premier Tech) has been bookmarked by staffers around the bunch for its perfect proportions of sticky stuff and solid bits.
We got the recipe (check the below Insta post), so you too can fuel like the world’s fastest.
We also spoke to co-creator Holden about the tastiest treat in the Tour de France.
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Velo: We hear you’re the mastermind behind the favorite fuel of the Tour de France. Tell us more?
Lizzie Holden: I can’t claim to have invented the Rice Krispies Bar! I think a lot of us remember making them when we were children. But these bars are definitely having a moment in the peloton now. Riders and soigneurs have told me they love how easy the recipe is to make and how well it works on the bike, which I love to hear!
I started making them for my own training because I used to rely on “Kellogg’s Squares” bars when I was at home in the UK. They have a great carb content, they’re affordable, and you can find them anywhere. Unfortunately when I moved to Europe in 2017, they weren’t available. So I started preparing my own.
I’ve always loved baking, plus I’ve always been interested in sports nutrition – I have a qualification in sports nutrition myself. So it felt natural to combine the two. So I began creating recipes that would actually work as ride fuel.
Velo: Talk to us about the evolution of your OG Rice Krispie Bar?
LH: It came together after a few rounds of testing. I wanted to keep the fat content as low as possible, since fat isn’t the main priority for on-bike fueling. But I didn’t want to cut it out completely, otherwise you lose that soft, chewy texture.
I also wanted the ingredient ratios to be easy to remember. That’s how I landed on 300g marshmallows, 200g Rice Krispies, and 50g butter or coconut oil. Simple and functional.
Velo: We hear they’re the only ‘real food’ riders are eating now?
LH: Rice Krispies Bars are simple to make, cost-effective, and most importantly, they actually taste good.
And for team soigneurs, they’re much quicker and easier to prepare than the traditional rice cakes we used to see in the peloton. Plus, nutritionally, they offer a faster-absorbing carbohydrate, which is more in line with the demands of modern racing. Carb availability is the priority now that racing is so intense.
That said, they’re not for every moment in a race. I would imagine that gels and specific sports nutrition products still make up the core of most riders’ fueling strategies. But in those moments when you can eat something solid, especially during long stages, Rice Krispies Bars are a great option.
Also, the flavor variations are endless, which helps combat that flavor fatigue you can get from eating the same gels or bar day after day. So I know for example that Israel-Premier Tech have some really cool variations – Bounty, Kit Kat, and Twix [various candy bars – ed] to name a few!
Velo: Give us some preparation tips from the Rice Krispies Bar mastermind?
LH: Of course!
- Don’t be tempted to quickly melt the marshmallows over high heat, it makes the bars rock hard!
- Don’t skip the butter or oil! Again, you’ll end up with a very hard bar.
- If you don’t have access to the special foil wrappers that teams use, reusable sandwich bags or baking paper work just as well.
- Want to level it up? Brown the butter slightly and lightly toast the cereal in the oven for extra flavor enhancement.
