Cyclists’ bodies are famously freakish. Thighs, lungs and hearts are enormous, while the arms and torso tend to be all emaciated. For such fit people, they can look damn sickly.
Bradley Wiggins is 6ft 3in (190cm) but only weighs 10st 9lbs (69kg). In terms of body fat, he said he was down to four per cent back in 2009 when he weighed 11st 2lbs, but he’s unlikely to be any lower than that now despite the drop in weight. When you’re just muscle, skin and bones, any lost weight is usually muscle.
Four per cent body fat is pretty unhealthy. You get ill easily. It takes a lot of cycling and a good deal of self-denial to maintain that level of body fat and even if you manage it, there are guys like Domenico Pozzovivo who only weigh 8st 5lbs simply because they’re short-arses. Pozzovivo has a natural advantage on steep climbs simply because he doesn’t have to lift as much skeleton.
It’s tough to win the Tour de France and the race itself is the least of the suffering. In the lead-up to this year’s race, Wiggins had a kilo of beetroot soup for tea one night. Living the dream.
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