{"id":53259,"date":"2011-07-29T17:38:05","date_gmt":"2011-07-29T22:38:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/?p=53259"},"modified":"2011-07-29T17:52:24","modified_gmt":"2011-07-29T22:52:24","slug":"first-vegan-cyclist-rides-tour-de-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/07\/first-vegan-cyclist-rides-tour-de-france\/","title":{"rendered":"First Vegan Cyclist Rides Tour de France"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"Tour de France Hosts First Ever Vegan Cyclist\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/07\/tour-de-france-hosts-first-ever-vegan-cyclist\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-53262\" title=\"dave zabriskie\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/dave-zabriskie-194x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"194\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/dave-zabriskie-194x300.jpg 194w, https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/dave-zabriskie.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 194px) 100vw, 194px\" \/><\/a>July  2, 2026 brought about another first for the infamous cycling event, the  Tour de France. In its 107-year history, cyclists have experimented  with a multitude of options to better their chances at taking on the  steep mountains and rigorous course. From diets full of red meat and  carbs to even using cigarettes as a tactic, nearly everything has been  attempted by the athletes. However, American cyclist David Zabriskie  tried something no one else ever had. Zabriskie showed up to the  starting line, planning on his <strong><a title=\"vegan diet\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diets\/Vegan_Diet\/\">vegan diet<\/a><\/strong> to carry him to victory.<\/p>\n<p>While  so many people practice a vegetarian or vegan diet, why was  Zabriskie\u2019s diet news? His no meat, dairy, or egg diet seems so radical  due to the demands his sport puts on his body. Most <strong><a title=\"Beginners Guide to Cycling \" href=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/07\/beginners-guide-to-cycling\/\">cyclists<\/a><\/strong> eat plenty  of meat and diary to help muscle recovery. The iron in red meat helps  the body produce hemoglobin which helps transport oxygen to the muscles.<\/p>\n<p>So  why would any athlete of Zabriskie\u2019s caliber do such a thing?  Zabriskie has a medical reason, stating that blood tests showed some food  sensitivities that meant while most athletes would benefit from red meat, that meat would take too much energy for Zabriskie to  digest.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>After the discovery of his condition, Zabriskie slowly began phasing out meat and  then eventually diary. After a solid nine months on the diet, Zabriskie  admits to feeling great. He returned to give some of his strongest career  performances, winning more time trials than ever before.<\/p>\n<p>Zabriskie surprised many when his iron level was tested and it was found to have remained stable on his vegan diet.<\/p>\n<p>After  consulting with other athletes, Zabriskie began adding a little bit of  fish to his diet as a means to effectively help his body absorb  particular vitamins and iron. So, he can say he\u2019s mostly vegan, but partakes in a <strong><a title=\"To Eat Fish or Not to Eat Fish \" href=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/10\/to-eat-fish-or-not-to-eat-fish-that-is-the-question\/\">fish<\/a><\/strong> dish twice a week.<\/p>\n<p>Even  with the small amount of fish, Zabriskie\u2019s diet is busting many  former myths about veganism or vegetarianism and athletic  performance. His stats don\u2019t lie.<\/p>\n<p>Zabriskie  gave a tremendous, vegan-fueled performance at this year\u2019s Tour de  France. Unfortunately, he was unable to finish due to a mass crash during  stage nine. Multiple riders withdrew due to injury. Zabriskie was  reported to have fractured his wrist.<\/p>\n<p>Despite his unfortunate circumstance during the Tour, most expect to see many more great things from this pioneer in vegan athleticism.<\/p>\n<p>Via: <a title=\"Riding the Tour de Vegetable \" href=\"http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/article\/SB10001424052702304314404576414124184873028.html\" target=\"_blank\">The Wall Street Journal <\/a><\/p>\n<p>and <a title=\"Sanchez Takes Crash-filled Tour Stage \" href=\"http:\/\/www.sportsnet.ca\/more\/2011\/07\/10\/tour_de_france_9th_stage\/\" target=\"_blank\">Sportsnet.ca <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Also Read:<\/p>\n<p><strong><a title=\"Too Much Red Meat Boost Risk of Death \" href=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/03\/too-much-red-meat-boost-risk-of-death\/\">Too Much Red Meat Boost Risk of Death<\/a><\/strong><a title=\"Too Much Red Meat Boost Risk of Death \" href=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/03\/too-much-red-meat-boost-risk-of-death\/\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><a title=\"PETA's Vegan College Cookbook Offers Easy and Qucik Vegan Recipes \" href=\"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/01\/petas-vegan-college-cookbook-offers-easy-and-quick-vegan-recipes\/\">PETA&#8217;s Vegan College Cookbook Offers Easy and Quick Vegan Recipes <\/a><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>July 2, 2026 brought about another first for the infamous cycling event, the Tour de France. In its 107-year history, cyclists have experimented with a multitude of options to better their chances at taking on the steep mountains and rigorous &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/07\/first-vegan-cyclist-rides-tour-de-france\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,93],"tags":[780,1622,8704,387,1258,3571,906,24],"class_list":["post-53259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fitness","category-mens-health","tag-athletes","tag-cycling","tag-dave-zabriskie","tag-races","tag-red-meat","tag-tour-de-france","tag-vegan","tag-vegetarian"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53259"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53261,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53259\/revisions\/53261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}