“I did it for the crostata.” These have been the phrases uttered by Elisa Longo Borghini within the moments after she received the Tour of Flanders.
On the time, I did not suppose a lot of it. I did not know what crostata was, and it appeared like a passing remark, an inside joke maybe. Then the Italian received once more, and mentioned it once more.
This time it was at De Brabantse Pijl, earlier this week, the place she soloed clear and received by 41 seconds. Why did she do it? “Just for crostata!” she wrote on X. As a capital-J journalist, I figured it was time for an investigation.
First, I had to determine what crostata was. This was the simple half. A fast Google search returned numerous pictures of pies, the candy, crusty sort that get left on windowsills in cartoons.
Wikipedia then stepped in. Crostata is a type of fruit tart, an Italian dessert, that dates again to a fifteenth century cookbook, it instructed me. Nearly the entire photos present it to be topped with a lattice design, so I assume that is the going method.
Info established, the large query remained: why is it serving to Longo Borghini win bike races?
I turned to Lidl-Trek’s press officer, Amy Cameron, for the solutions. “It’s a successful deal with,” she defined, one made by the crew’s chef, Mirko Sut. I requested if she has ever tried it. “Have I attempted it?” she scoffed. “I’ve been consuming Mirko’s crostata longer than Elisa when me and him have been on BMC collectively! It’s scrumptious.”
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Instantly, all the pieces made sense. The dessert is not a efficiency vitamin fad. No, it is a constructive reinforcement ruse, a Pavlovian trick as outdated as time. Win race, get crostata. Longo Borghini had cracked the system.
I needed to know extra. Is there a secret ingredient? Does Sut do one thing particular to the crostata? “He simply perfected it, I imagine,” mentioned Cameron. “He makes this unimaginable pistachio one that’s unreal.” The recipe, nevertheless, is high secret.
So there you go. For anybody questioning how SD Worx-Protime could possibly be overwhelmed this 12 months, the reply wasn’t race techniques or newfangled tech, it was the lure of a easy, Italian dessert. Crostata, Lidl-Trek’s secret weapon.
Elsewhere on social media, Mathieu van der Poel lifts The Rock, Kristen Faulkner exhibits off her guide assortment, and Geraint Thomas sits via a lonely breakfast.
1. Who wants vitality gels whenever you’ve received crostata?
2. I am positive it tastes higher than it seems
The recipe is a secret although 🤫 https://t.co/NC5m1hEat4 pic.twitter.com/X4ZMRUrkeMApril 10, 2024
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3. This is one other serving to of Longo Borghini for you. She’s proper, Lidl-Trek did her soiled with the winner’s photograph
I promise I’m completely satisfied and in actual life I smile too! 🤓 https://t.co/O0HAmW8b9iApril 10, 2024
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4. Mathieu van der Poel did not simply win any outdated rock at Paris-Roubaix
5. One for the stats followers…
Van Der Poel is the primary rainbow jersey wearer to win Paris-Roubaix since Lotte Kopecky in 2024.April 7, 2024
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6. We would all be this cool, respiratory via our noses, after soloing 60km throughout the cobbles, proper?
🌈 Winner 🇳🇱@mathieuvdpoel watching the dash for 2nd place on the Roubaix velodrome. 🚴🏻♂️🌈 Le vainqueur 🇳🇱@mathieuvdpoel a pu assister au dash pour la 2ème place sur le vélodrôme de Roubaix.🚴🏻♂️ #ParisRoubaix pic.twitter.com/MUdfO1q71oApril 7, 2024
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7. It seems I have been placing my mitts on unsuitable this entire time
8. Should you appreciated seeing Adam Yates’ canine, Zoe, in a yellow jersey final July, you may love this gallery
9. It is a marvel how Kristen Faulkner finds time to race her bike round all her studying
10. Poor Geraint, alone, with nothing however a bottle of Actimel to speak to
One other morning stuffed with bants with my mates at coaching camp 👍 pic.twitter.com/C7R383Bo58April 10, 2024
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11. To be truthful to the drone, I would not wish to observe Tom Pidcock downhill both
12. Do not forget to carry your entrance wheels to the flowers this spring
13. This is how sisters Elynor and Zoe Bäckstedt spent the twentieth anniversary of their father’s Paris-Roubaix victory
14. And at last, my private favorite this week, the sight of Jay Vine giving a thumbs up after his horrible crash at Itzulia Basque Nation. Heal up, Jay!
