Fiorelli flabbergasted by food structure at Visma | Lease a Bike: 'Even my mom pointed me to that pasta...'

Visma | Lease a Bike searched for outside opportunities this transfer window and found Italian Filippo Fiorelli from VF Group-Bardiani. The already 31-year-old Italian is making his WorldTour debut with the Dutch team and may immediately make his debut in the Tour Down Under, together with intended leader Matthew Brennan.

At BiciPro, Fiorelli talked about his first experience at Visma | Lease a Bike. 'It all feels normal. Sometimes I look in the mirror and realize that this yellow-and-black uniform did have an effect on me when I saw it on others before I signed the contract, but with me it feels normal. Maybe I've gotten used to it?

The biggest change is the food, he agrees. "The food at Visma is absurd," states Fiorelli, who in the past had problems with his weight and felt he gained weight quickly.

Now, however, he eats even more. 'But when they tell you to do it, there's a reason for it. The food is the biggest difference, and I really didn't expect that. Everything is measured.'

'We have the FoodCoach app, which tells you what to eat. You arrive at the buffet, there are three scales. You weigh this and that, you go to your table and start eating. And it feels like a Christmas lunch,' said the Italian at BiciPro.

'I eat everything, down to the gram, everything I need. They insist that I have to do my best, that I have to make it, otherwise I'll go into a calorie deficit. I really eat a lot, even my mother pointed out all that pasta to me...,' he throws in a funny anecdote.

In terms of training, the changes are not so bad, the Italian points out. 'We have slightly increased the training volume, but not much The specific training sessions are mainly different: not so much in terms of the type of effort, but in terms of execution. I follow the instructions and I work hard. The trainer (Espen Aereskjold, ed.) said I am as precise as a watch.'

Fiorelli is now heading to the Tour Down Under, where he will have an important role right away. 'Brennan will do the sprints and I'm the last man. It starts really soon,' he insisted.