EOLO - Kometa reported to have race weight and body fat contract clauses, according to former rider

Body weight is and has always been a very important topic in professional cycling, with riders trying to improve their W/Kg as much as possible for climbing. That focus may however have been taken over the limit, as former EOLO - Kometa rider John Archibald reported that there was a contract clause that allowed the team to dispense riders if they were above race weight.

Archibald was a part of the Italian team in 2021 after his time-trialing prowess took him to Pro Team level. It was a one-year contract however, with no wins and the lack of memorable performances coming out of it: “It wasn’t a good fit for either party and didn’t work out well, our mentalities didn’t match," he told Veloveritas.

He explained that there was a lack of preparation for the time-trial which directly affected him: "There wasn’t the attention to detail when preparing for and riding time trials – no proper skinsuits or aero socks and tyres over-inflated at 110 psi all the little things that matter," he said, but instead the team's focus was elsewhere.

“Their obsession was with skin folds and body weight – a memo went round that 60% of the team was not at their correct racing weight, they wanted you at no more than 8% body fat and there was a clause in your contract that they could dispense with your services if you went two kilos over your race weight," he revealed.

A track specialist, aswell as a leading figure over the last few years in the British domestic scene, Archibald was not a fit for the Italian team who seeked to get him. The collaboration saw a second place late in the year at the Tour Poitou - Charentes time-trial, however little more came from the team. 

“At the training camp I was six kilos lighter than I was when riding the track – with hindsight, that wasn’t helpful," he believed, whilst adding that he didn't feel the correct work was being done with him: "The coach concentrated on building threshold and endurance but where I needed to improve was on top end, sprinting out of bends and roundabouts – and over the top of hills."

“By the time I understood that it was too late to correct but even with the right equipment and on top form the atmosphere just wasn’t right for me," he concluded.