Feature

Mon 2 Nov, 4:50 pm UTC

Nutrition: Lose weight the Tour de France way

By Dr Kevin Currell, Triathlon Plus

Over the past few years we’ve seen pro cyclists in the Tour de France making significant changes to their body composition, resulting in improvements in performance. 

Lance Armstrong is the obvious example, with Bradley Wiggins also making a well-publicised change this year.

During the 2009 Tour, Wiggins said: “Compared to the 2007 Tour, my weight loss means I’m carrying the equivalent of six bags of sugar less up a mountain. Shedding that weight is all that I can do to give myself the best chance on the climbs other than taking drugs, and I’m not going to do that.”

How do pro cyclists shed the pounds?

According to his book The Lance Armstrong Performance Programme, Armstrong would carefully count his calories, weighing food or estimating calories based on size.

He would also time his training sessions carefully, starting his long rides at 11am, riding through lunch (eating energy bars) before returning home at around 4pm for a main meal.

Wiggins, on the other hand, trained hard before breakfast to speed up his metabolism for the day. He also avoided gluten for two months, and abstained from alcohol completely. Both cyclists’ weight loss was gradual over a period of many months, never losing too much weight too quickly.

There were reports in the press that Wiggins had a body fat of four percent during the Tour and this would not be unusual for elite male cyclists. It could easily be imagined that others within the pro peloton have similar body compositions. 

Think about the consequences

In professional cycling, power-to-weight ratio is very important, especially for those who want to climb well and win a Grand Tour. Any excess weight such as body fat will only slow them down.

Excess muscle on their upper body will also make climbing harder. When the margins between winning and losing are so small at the elite level, pro riders have to look at every advantage.

However, while excess muscle on a cyclist’s upper body is dead weight, it’s vital in other sports. So, if you like to run, swim or play team sports as well as cycle, don’t lose weight by just losing muscle mass, or you’ll notice a decline in your performance. Similarly, if you lose too much body fat, your health will be affected.

Weight loss requires careful consideration and should not be done on a whim. Remember, elite athletes like Wiggins will work with some of the best sport scientists in the world to make these changes.

What can I do?

If you’re thinking of changing your  body composition ask yourself ‘is my body composition really stopping me from achieving my goals?’ If you’re overweight, this is probably a symptom of poor nutrition, so tackle  this before going on some fad diet.

For those who like to enjoy the off-season taking in a few beers and munching sweets, it’s likely your body fat will increase. A small increase in body fat is good and healthy during the autumn – after all, your body and mind need a rest. However, if you take it too far you’re going to have to get back in shape at some point. 

Large swings in body weight can have a negative impact. A more controlled approach to losing weight is a better idea. Decreasing calorie intake by 500 kcal per day can lead to losing 1lb in weight in just a week. Lose them from calorie-dense, nutrient-poor sources first, as follows:

  1. Alcohol
  2. Saturated fat
  3. Simple sugars
  4. Other fats
  5. Carbohydrates
  6. Protein

Done slowly, this will have less of an effect on your training. However, cut calories for too long and your training may begin to suffer.

Size Zero cyclists – Pro riders who went from slim to slimmer

Jan Ullrich: “I have seen many lean riders in the peloton, but very few Tour winners,” he said in response to criticism of his winter weight. At race weight, he won the Tour de France in 1997, Vuelta e Espana in 1999 and Olympic time trial in 2000.

Lance Armstrong: Pre-1996 and Lance Armstrong was a double Tour de France stage winner and UCI world champion. Post-cancer and the stripped down Armstrong was overall winner of the Tour de France seven successive times.

Bradley Wiggins: Pre-2009 and despite world and Olympic pursuit titles, Wiggins had yet to trouble the overall leaders of a grand Tour. At the 2009 Tour de France,  a lightweight Wiggins was a different proposition in the mountains, finishing fourth overall.

User Comments

There are 32 comments on this post

Showing 1 - 30 of 32 comments

  • Bradley Wiggins abstain from alcohol! LOL

  • One interesting fact to note in respect of this article:

    LA was the same weight in competition before and after his cancer.

  • source "He's of average height and weight—five-foot-ten, 165 pounds"

    Outside magazine, July 1994 (165lbs = 75kg)

  • Im overweight, its great for downhills but crap for going up lol!

  • pies. pies. pies.

  • I'm 6ft1 and 66kg, although I could do with improving my power, my weight definitely isn't a problem! I should probably mention I haven't drank alcohol for the last 4 years (and I'm only 22) and won't ever drink it again.

  • Give the man a medal!

  • I'm 6ft3 and 17.5 stone.

    I'll be 14 stone come April for sure.

    ha ha !

    I'll try anyway.

  • i was 17.5 stone now 16stone and still cant do hills :-)

  • re:LJAR wrote:

    "One interesting fact to note in respect of this article: LA was the same weight in competition before and after his cancer.

    source "He's of average height and weight—five-foot-ten, 165 pounds"

    Outside magazine, July 1994 (165lbs = 75kg)"

    I'm no Lance fanboy but IIRC he said his pre-cancer weight included upper body muscle developed through triathlon, where as his post-cancer weight the muscle development was purely through cycling.

    Obviously the effort of taking 75kg over a mountain is the same no matter the distribution but it has to be better if a higher proportion of it can be directly employed in getting over the mountain than before.

  • Was pushing 16 stone (at 6'4") and hills were an absolute killer, really demoralising. Now after averaging 120 miles a week for a year and a half I've stabilised at 13.5 stone without modifying my not-too-good diet in any way, in fact possibly consuming more, and hills are a doddle, positively enjoyable in fact. However, I know that to shake that persistent last half stone (round my waist) my diet will need looking at, probably alcohol first... oh b*gger it, I'll stick where I am.

  • ah good point, I had not considered the redistribution of his muscle.

  • i like my food to much so bugger losing a stone

  • Cycling or cakes? Cycling or cakes? Cycling or cakes? Hmm, I afraid it's cakes!

  • You can still eat cakes within reason - They make a great post ride snack!

  • Booze for sure makes your excess weight fall off along with long & steady K's over 4 hours!

    Try SIS (Science In Sport) REGO for after the ride! (make it before you go or the night b4) & drink as soon as you get in from the ride- it stops you eating all the shite like biscuits & cakes you crave (empty calories)

    Cut out White Bread, Reduce Carbs after 2pm, Eat more Protein like Fish & Chicken!

    Drink Heaps of Water & stay hydrated always! IT TAKES TIME, BUT NOTHING WORTHWHILE IS EASY- YOU JUST GOTTA WANT IT..!

  • erm - wasn't this an article on how to loose weight - did I miss it or was there no real advice here !

  • As a mountain biker I need muscle all over my body so redistributing muscle from upper to lower body was not an option, if anything, it needed to be the other way round! I got really lean over the summer by counting calories and avoiding saturated fats completely, by the end of July my bodyfat was really, really low. I don't do crunchies but I could see my sixpack, which was the first time in my life. It improved my sprinting and for the early part of a ride, my hill climbing went through the roof, but on longer rides I couldn't maintain the sort of pace I had in the spring and would get the bonk easily. Someone suggested I replace chicken with fish and eat more nuts and it improved my performance dramatically and gaining very little weight. It does say somewhere in that article that bodyfat is important to be healthy but I don't think it stresses it enough, it does also improve performance too.

  • I'll have to go back and have a look over his book, but I think LA's upper body pre-cancer muscle mass came about because of swimming and he actually weighed less post cancer.

  • Or you can do what I am doing.

    Move to Doha Qatar, cyles +-500km (road and or mtb) a month for a year, and lose 50lb.

    Only problem is fluid. Cannot find a camelback big enough for a three hour jaunt around town. Pitstops and refills are an absolute must.

    It took me it took me 12 years to balloon from 164 (26 years old) to 270lb (38 YO).

    My target is 195, so only 25 to go, with winter here and cooler temps (30 celcius instead of summer's 50+) its going to be fun.

    Never mind the six pack, I want to be able to feel my ribs again!!

  • My typing still sucks.

    Should read:

    Move to Doha Qatar, cylce +-500km (road and or mtb) a month for a year, and lose 50lb.

  • Or indeed 'cycle'.

  • my blood type means i have a high percentage of fat put onto my body instead of in blood vessels. which im not complaining about. im trying to gain muscle mass and loose some body fat. loosing the fat is easy, byt gaining muscle for me is very hard even though i cycle as much as i can (26miles a day in summer, 10-15 at this time of year)

  • Whats with the my blood type excuse Cameron W! Nonesense. Only way to loose weight is calories in < calories out. Its very tough to maintain dietary discipline for amateurs all year round. I also noticed I did not loose any weight once the racing season started - ? gel fueled rides, less training - I dont know but am now struggling to go back to < 80kg from 83kg and I definitely notice it on any incline as my HR rockets am blaming the "heavy" winter bike! Am 40 now and also think calorie intake is crucial especially with sedentary job.

  • Chun5tardelux : Reduce Carbs after 2pm

    Sorry, but AFAIK there is no scientific study proving this to be any good.

    Cameron W: my blood type means i have a high percentage of fat put onto my body instead of in blood vessels.

    You're the person I'd love to sell a used car to. Wanna have a look?

  • Loose weight the tour de France way. So that`d be

    (1)Get a pro contract

    (2)Train hard enough to be selected for the team to ride the tour

    (3) Think..poor result= no contract=no income

    (4)Ride round France in 3 weeks faster than some could drive round

    ....easy really, & absolutely obvious.

  • Quote

    Ectomorph

    Posted Tue 3 Nov, 1:38 pm UTC Flag as inappropriate

    Was pushing 16 stone (at 6'4") and hills were an absolute killer, really demoralising. Now after averaging 120 miles a week for a year and a half I've stabilised at 13.5 stone without modifying my not-too-good diet in any way, in fact possibly consuming more, and hills are a doddle, positively enjoyable in fact. However, I know that to shake that

    What is a stone? Everyone is ignorant, just about different things.

  • http://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+is+a+stone

  • "He also avoided gluten for two months..."

    Red herring. If you have coeliac disease (which you tend to know about if you have it--since it gives fairly instant weight loss), gluten is a sensible thing to avoid. For the rest of us, it's at best a neutral issue. If you're vegan &/or your diet revolves around bread &/or pasta, gluten can't be healthily cut out without a LOT of messing about.

    "However, while excess muscle on a cyclist’s upper body is dead weight, it’s vital in other sports. So, if you like to run, swim or play team sports as well as cycle..."

    Eh?? Swimming fair enough, but have you seen the arms on elite distance runners? Running is one of the few sports that uses the upper body less than road cycling. And surely it depends what the "team sport" is--last time I looked, most football wasn't played with the arms.

    PS--Shaggy Dog: I do Crunchies...and Flakes, Snickerses, Picnics...

  • Cycling or cakes?

    Nah - Cycling and Cakes!

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