EF Pro Cycling agreed to ride the Tour de France Femmes dairy-free and then foolishly allowed us to film it.
FEW ACTS OF SPORT ARE MORE GRUELING THAN CYCLING ACROSS 949 KILOMETERS OF ROLLING FRENCH COUNTRYSIDE OVER THE COURSE OF SEVEN LONG DAYS. DOING IT WHILE A PESKY OAT DRINK COMPANY IS CONSTANTLY IN YOUR EAR ASKING QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR DAIRY-FREE DIET AND HOW IT’S AFFECTING YOUR PERFORMANCE? THAT REQUIRES SUPERHUMAN ENDURANCE.
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Once EF Pro Cycling signed the rigorous terms of its multiyear sponsorship with us, Oatly, it immediately underestimated just how annoying we can be. As it turns out, we don’t have a lot of cash stuffed under mattresses here at our Malmö headquarters. So with every new investment, our C-suite of VIPs demands we not only closely monitor the progress of said new investment but also squeeze every ounce of content from every dollar (or krona) spent.
That’s the winning attitude we took with us into the Tour de France Femmes!
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For one week, we followed six EF riders who adopted dairy-free diets to reinforce that dairy-free lifestyles are possible when competing in high-endurance sports. There were extreme highs and lows, judgmental French spectators and charming French spectators, and plenty of exhausted riders staring off into the middle distance. After a wild finish for EF Oatly, team nutritionist Anna Carceller confirmed that cycling nutrition is indeed unaffected when an athlete removes dairy from a performance diet (which isn’t a spoiler because we sort of knew that already).
Please enjoy the spectacle of dairy-free competitive sport for yourself. In total, we came away with three episodes. Not too bad content-wise - the Oatly brass will be pleased. Plus, the EF Oatly team performed admirably! It just goes to show that you don’t have to be fueled by dairy when you’re fueled by sponsorship dollars.
EPISODE 01
As Oatly began following the riders, our worry was never that their cycling performance would be affected. Our worry was that we’d get in their way a little too much while filming and they’d begin to develop a deep-rooted resentment towards our brand. Judge for yourself.
EPISODE 02
After an accident shook EF-Oatly-Cannondale, the riders rallied and put on a strong show of resilience as they forged ahead. We, on the other hand, kept pouring cups of oat drink for French spectators who appeared to be getting fed up with us being around all the time.
EPISODE 03
The brutal climbing stages of the Tour de France Femmes were no match for the EF riders (and their dairy-free diets). The team nutritionist even confirmed their diets had no impact on overall results. Satisfied, we congratulated the riders and finally left them alone so they could go to bed.