Interview: Konstantin Rohé
TOUR: How important is sleep for professional cyclists?
TEUN VAN ERP: Alongside nutrition, sleep is the most important part of the recovery strategy. Between seven and eight hours of sleep at night is the minimum for our riders to deliver top performance on the bike several days in a row. We also utilise other recovery options, such as compression socks. But the benefits vary from person to person - unlike sleep.
What does the team do to ensure that the drivers sleep as well as possible?
During the three-week tours, each team is assigned different hotels by the organiser. To ensure that the riders don't have to get used to new surroundings every day, the aim is to create an environment that is as familiar as possible each time. The temperature is also important: we try to keep the rooms at a constant temperature of around 18 degrees - which has been proven to be the ideal temperature for sleeping. For races in Asia or America, we also try to prepare our drivers for the time difference early on with a jet lag plan.
How can amateur cyclists prepare for everyman races where, like your pros, they are confronted with a new environment and an often unusually early wake-up time when they spend the night?
For multi-day races, the key is to get into the rhythm of the race day early, i.e. to gradually adjust the time you get up the week before - and to go to bed earlier in order to get seven and a half hours of sleep. The hotel bed is important for the quality of sleep on site. If you find it too inconvenient to bring your own mattress, you should choose a good hotel with air conditioning and good beds.
