"At Team Sky, I was often told I had anorexia" - Wout Poels calls criticism of Pauline Ferand-Prévot's weight 'scandalous'

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot rode to victory at the Tour de France Femmes in impressive fashion, a lot due to her magnificent climbing performance up the Col de Madeleine. However the Frenchwoman's achievement was perhaps somewhat clouded by the criticism and attention that her body weight gained throughout social media and even her competition.

In almost stereotypical fashion, this happened in a women's event, whereas the weight in the men's peloton is often brought up as a topic despite having very similar cases. In the 'In Koers' podcast, Wout Poels was properly unhappy with the discourse surrounding the athlete's weight instead of her victory in one of the biggest events in pro cycling.

"I thought it was a shame that all that fuss about her weight arose. In fact, I thought it was scandalous what was said. About people who thought it was healthy or not. I thought they were such sore losers," he says. Not only was Ferrand-Prévot often called overly thin, but Demi Vollering's weight was also a major topic of discussion after the end of the Tour.

The post-Tour discourse then became more about the rider's weights, which simultaneously triggered a wave of defending the first and second on the overall classification respectively. "Riders who said they wanted to be a healthy role model, and things like that. I thought: we do top-level sports, and then you have to push your limits. Instead of saying how impressive what Pauline had accomplished was, at a certain point it was all about her weight. I felt like she had to defend herself. I thought it was scandalous; I thought it was absolutely unacceptable."

Within the peloton itself there was a sharp comment from Giro Donne runner-up Marlen Reusser who said "we secretly hoped that she wouldn’t be successful" because this would set a new standard in women's cycling.

Demi Vollering herself was affected harshly by the discourse and has also talked about the need to stop discussing the riders' weights in this way: "I’m not built to be the lightest rider in the peloton. And I don’t want to force my body to become something it’s not".

Further comments from the likes of, for example, Chris Horner, further engrained the feeling of controversy: "You’re a professional cyclist. Weight is always going to be a factor. If you’re not going to have watts per kilo better than the rider next to you, then you better have tactics better than the rider next to you. Otherwise, you have zero chance of winning.”

"It's a good thing this isn't happening with men, because at Team Sky, I was often told I had anorexia," Poels, now a rider for XDS Astana Team, admits. "We're competing at the highest level, and if you want to cycle fast up a mountain, it's about the combination of weight and power. If you develop an eating disorder, that's not the intention, but now it was being made out as if she was riding with anorexia. That's really doing someone a disservice."

The Dutchman, who is practically a neighbour of Ferrand-Prévot in the Monaco area, was delighted to see her success at the Tour. "I thought it was great to see, because I watched almost all the stages. It was fantastic. It's amazing when you make it such a goal and then ride away from the competition like that... Hats off to you."

"Dylan (van Baarle, Ferrand-Prévot's partner, ed.) just said she explored every single route from start to finish in the campervan. When it comes down to it, you have to defend your elite sports mindset and your commitment to it. And then you get all that bullshit thrown at you. I felt really bad for her. She handled it well, but I think it's sad she had to comment on it at all."