What does a MotoGP rider's diet look like?

Many people think that riders do very little to improve once they’re off their bikes, or that they don’t really need any type of training or parallel activity in order to race. On the contrary, they are athletes, more so than many others. The rider must prepare his/her body by following a training plan outside the paddock and eating a healthy diet.

The diet of champions

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Every meal is characterised by a specific food that is good for the individual rider. And the results can be seen on track. When the bike travels at those speeds, it moves and twitches, which means the rider is forced to follow suit and correct any erroneous movement. This can only be done if they are physically prepared, paying attention to the smallest details. Having a good diet ensures that a person’s cardio-circulatory system is in perfect shape.

Eating well also contributes to the overall rider/bike weight. Even a small weight saving can increase performance, and speed too, reduce the effort that the braking system need make during braking and reduce tyre stress.

Aleix Espargaro: “Nutrition is really important”

Let’s take the example of the Espargaró brothers, who talked about their healthy diet on motogp.com.

For three years now, Pol has been following a largely vegetable-based diet that focuses on water storage, so all those foods that contain a good quantity of water. Breakfast is often an avocado, or toast. Lunch might be legumes and quinoa, even before climbing on the bike, because they contain a lot of energy. At dinner time, he chooses to eat carbs, including pasta.

Aleix also eats very structured meals. For breakfast, it’s fruit, mainly bananas. Lunch involves plain rice. And then dinner is chicken and vegetables with just a dash of oil. “I think that nutrition is really important at our level, it’s our fuel. And I see it, in that if I get this aspect wrong, I don’t feel 100%.”

Traslated by Heather Watson

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