2025 was a breakthrough year for Lidl-Trek, the multinational road cycling team, in the gruelling three week competition (July 5-27), leading Unbroken co-founder Steinar Kristjansson to confidently boast the benefits of the his ‘swiss army knife supplement’ that supported the athletes’ recovery.
“They were very pleased with the performance. This has been the best performance of the team overall, and we tell the team’s doctors and nutritionists this is mainly due to Unbroken,” he told NutraIngredients.
The brand logo was seen spotted on the athletes’ kits as well as on the bottles they were pictured drinking at refuel stations.
“Interest has been snowballing since July 1st. We are getting a lot of requests from endurance athletes.”
He added: “We are now on the world stage of nutrition and we will continue to be known as the ultimate recovery product on the market.”
With a background in medical nutrition, Kristjansson understands the importance of easily digestible solutions for stressed digestive systems and that’s the USP on which Unbroken hinges.
Free-form aminos
The Informed Sport certified effervescent tablets use a proprietary production process using fresh Norweigan salmon for a ‘full spectrum’ of amino acids, short peptides and micronutrients.
Tabs contain extensively hydrolyzed salmon protein (20g protein in 2 tablets) providing 25 free-form aminos, including BCAA/9EAA, plus collagen peptides, vitamin B12, taurine, zinc, selenium, and potassium.
The protein comes at a very low molecular weight of 374 Dalton, thereby enabling faster absorption into the muscles."
He said he likes to describe protein as a “long chain of 176 golf balls glued together”.
“The body has to digest the chain into individual or groups of no more than three balls, for absorption within the gut.
“The low molecular weight of our protein allows it to go straight into the blood stream.”
He added that the inclusion of the amino acid tryptophan, a precursor to melatonin, is beneficial to the mind element of recovery.
“Athletes have told us it helps them get to sleep and get better quality sleep which is an extremely important aspect of recovery.”
Lidl-Trek standout performance
The Unbroken team was introduced to Lidl-Trek through Andy Schleck, former Tour de France winner and Hyrox enthusiast, who had used the product himself.
“He connected us with the Lidl-Trek team doctor Jens Hinder. He then started trialling our product eight months ago and gradually got the riders on the product and they felt the faster recovery benefits.”
Kristjansson explained the product matches the needs of these ultimate endurance athletes perfectly as optimum recovery is essential to be able to perform day after day.
“The name explains it — it’s is about remaining unbroken between stages.”
The brand now has its sights on mountain biking and football.
“When your product has been approved by the best performers in cycling, this is where football players watch to see what they are doing to improve their recovery, so we already have a lot of requests coming in from all football teams and all types of sport,” said the founder.
But the opportunities within the everyday active consumer market are also extensive and there has been a “huge uptick in awareness” across the board since the start of the race, with increasing orders of the supplement.
The four-strong range of effervescent tabs are additionally listed in Lidl and Trek retail outlets worldwide.
“A lot of people are dealing with general tiredness and our supplement is the Swiss Army knife of benefits,” Kristjansson said.
