Unbroken's 'Real Time Recovery' is already a big hit among Lidl-Trek and Trek Factory Racing MTB athletes
As a team doctor for Lidl-Trek, Jens Hinder simultaneously looks after the health and safety of riders, and searches for ways to perform their best. He is constantly vetting products and supplements that claim to boost elite athlete recovery and performance. Most don’t pass muster. On occasion, one breaks through. And that’s how Lidl-Trek came to partner with Unbroken.
Unbroken makes a single, very effective product: A real-time sports recovery tablet, dissolved in water, that is designed to accelerate muscle recovery for elite athletes. Unbroken is made from hydrolyzed salmon protein, and contains all nine essential amino acids that cannot be produced by the body alone. It works quickly to break down protein into easily absorbed nutrients, and contains Vitamin B12 and zinc to boost energy and immune function.
Mattias Skjelmose crying tears of joy after one of the most inspiring wins of the season in cycling at Amstel Gold.
Unbroken is made in Norway using fresh salmon, and every batch is tested before being released to the market. When Hinder heard about the product, it came from a good source: Andy Schleck, winner of the 2010 Tour de France and former Trek athlete. Schleck espoused its virtues as a now multi-faceted athlete. Still, Hinder had to see the results for himself.
“Sometimes when new products come on the market, I get in contact and I ask if I could have a few items to check and see how it works with other athletes, and perhaps eventually with the team,” Hinder said. “And in the case of Unbroken, it went quite well.”
Hinder first heard about Unbroken in August, 2024. First he tried it himself, and quickly found it to be effective. Hinder also works at a sports medicine institute, where he was able to recruit amateur athletes with whom he had established strong relationships to try the product and report how they felt. They, too, were overwhelmingly positive.
Unbroken is also partnering with the Trek Factory Racing Cross Country and Downhill mountain biking teams, which have been using the product all year during a rigorous World Cup racing slate.
Then Hinder brought Unbroken to Lidl-Trek, first letting riders doing one-day and short stage races test it out. When the feedback again was positive, Hinder let Lidl-Trek’s Vuelta a España squad try it. The race turned young star Mattias Skjelmose into an evangelist for the product. Skjelmose gave one of the best performances of his career across the three-week Grand Tour, finishing fifth overall on the general classification and winning the Best Young Rider jersey.
“I got the idea from Jens at the Vuelta. He’s a guy I trust a lot,” Skjelmose said. “I started taking it before and after the stages, and I felt good so I continued to use it. The Vuelta was a big success, so it could be that there were some gains there. I feel like I have an improved recovery with Unbroken, and I feel better on the bike day to day. I feel like my general well-being and overall health is improved too. I’m quite surprised at how good I feel.”
Whether you're racing for six hours up the biggest climbs in Europe, or for three minutes down those very same mountains, Unbroken can help you recover faster and better.
One of Hinder’s favorite aspects of Unbroken is that it is derived from a natural source. Targeting amino acids is nothing new for elite athletes, but they might have to take a complex combination of tough-to-swallow supplements to get everything they need for a quick recovery. But Unbroken’s science-backed formula relies on fresh Norwegian salmon, which very conveniently contain the full suite of essential amino acids.
“The special thing with Unbroken is that it’s a natural product from salmon,” Hinder said. “I like natural products that can reduce multiple supplements to a single tablet that you can mix with water. We have the best ability to give our bodies what we need with the food we intake. And the effect with Unbroken is that you have a better recovery.”
And it’s easy to take. Unbroken was designed to be used immediately following training or competition, but can be used before or during, too. The tablets easily dissolve in a water bottle, so athletes can take Unbroken while hydrating as they normally would.
Gwendalyn Gibson recovering from the high heat and intensity of short track racing in Val di Sole.
It’s not just long-distance endurance athletes who benefit. Unbroken will also partner Trek Factory Racing’s Cross Country and Downhill mountain bike teams, and those athletes have been using Unbroken throughout a rigorous 2025 World Cup slate of racing.
“I’ve recently started using Unbroken regularly with my training and racing,” TFR-Pirelli XC’s Madigan Munro said. “I have loved how easy it is to incorporate into my daily routine, adding another 1% benefit to my recovery gains. The new apple flavor is also very tasty!”
During World Cup weekends, XC riders will compete in 15-20 minutes of red line racing for short track, followed by a one hour-plus effort for Olympic-distance racing just a day or two later. DH events are even more condensed: Three-four minutes of some of the fastest and most punishing racing in the cycling sphere, careening down mountain faces. MTB athletes have laughably short recovery windows, and yet Unbroken continually delivers.
Mattias Skjelmose began using Unbroken at the 2024 Vuelta a España, where he took fifth overall on GC and won the Best Young Rider classification.
“World Cup Downhill racing is hard on the body, so I use Unbroken to stay recovered and fresh,” TFR DH’s Lachie Stevens-McNab said. “We train on the track all week, then race up to twice a day for qualification, and then have to be ready for finals the very next day, all of which is a huge toll on the body. I am looking for less fatigue, less soreness, and overall feeling better. That’s what I get with Unbroken.”
For nearly a full year now, Unbroken has passed every test thrown its way by Trek staff and athletes. No matter the athlete or discipline, it has aided recovery and training. That’s why we’re so excited to partner with Unbroken: It has quite literally lived up to the name.
