Do you bike harder with sweet potato?

Presenter Herman van der Zandt gives peas producer Toms Skujins (Trek) a sweet potato: "You have some kind of sweet potato fetish, no?"

Toms Skujins: "I know my potatoes, certainly, it's one of the best vegetables available.The best, I think, you can make fries. vodka, roll a car on it. "

HvdZ:" Is this a good bike fuel? "

TS:" Well, or it's the best power potato! "

Oja is this true? Do we all have to make sweet potato supplements (which exist!) If we get into lycra this weekend? Is there a craze for sweet potato ?

First of all. Sweet potato is not a potato, as the NOS writes. Sweet potato is a vegetable, a tuber. People who avoid carbohydrates – and there are many nowadays – are afraid of anything called the potato. But cyclists must eat well. And professional cyclists must be styled with carbohydrates. Then you have a good potato with sweet potatoes: they contain 21.3 grams of carbohydrates per 100 grams, a little more than a typical beep (19 grams), and more energy: 98 against 88 kcal. And then in the orange variant, there is also a lot of beta-carotene (provitamin A). But its popularity is due mainly to its glycemic value: your blood sugar level reaches less than the potato, so the paleolets (which eat a lot of meat and carbohydrates) and people with diabetes also like the tuber soft.

Read About misunderstandings and myths about sports food

At Lotto Jumbo he was in salad last week, says tour leader Jesper Boom of the car in France. "Baked with some herbs, let it cool, through the lettuce with corn and black beans – small mexican." Everyone can enjoy sweet potatoes. "And then you eat something different than the potato, the rice or the pasta."

So? Now, is he on the tour menu every day? In yogurt, smoothie, energy bar and evening in the plate? This is not yet the case. At least not with Lotto Jumbo, says Jesper Boom. He checks it. The sweet potato is already there, it sends text messages. He did not even reach Alpe d'Huez

Martine Kamsma