"In extreme cold, riders no longer have any fat" - Sep Vanmarcke theorises strictly regulated diets could be risking riders health in cold weather
CyclingWednesday, 24 April 2024 at 22:00
At the recent La Fleche Wallonne, it was perhaps Mother Nature who landed the decisive blow to most of the peloton, with pre-race favourite Mattias Skjelmose worryingly forced to abandon the race shaking uncontrollably with hypothermia symptoms.
Pictures such as those of Skjelmose being literally carried out of the race led many to ask what more can be done to keep the riders safe in such extreme conditions. For ex-pro Sep Vanmarcke, a root cause of the problem may actually be the stricter and more regulated diets riders have been given to increase performance over recent years.
“It is the trend of recent years. Thanks to science and better nutrition, they know exactly what is needed and what is not needed. If there are no competitions, less nutrition is consumed. Everything is calculated perfectly, which reduces fat mass even more. In extreme cold, riders no longer have any surplus, which also has an impact in the event of falls,” Vanmarcke explains on the 'Wuyts & Vlaeminck' podcast for HLN.
“Every rider is guided. But that limit is blurring, you may wonder whether the performance limit is also the health limit. Everything is focused on performance. If you can cycle a little faster by losing weight, then try that," Vanmarcke continues. “But there is no anorexia in the peloton, riders still eat what the body needs.”
Whilst Belgian cycling expert, Michel Wuyts doesn't have the same rider viewpoint as Vanmarcke, he does too share the concerns. “I think people are walking on the edge and the margins are extremely small," he worries. "Dietitians are extremely important in cycling. There is much better guidance than before. Then a lot of riders were too thin. When they fell, they immediately broke something.”
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- what a pity... he could have easily won the stage. He stopped his attack.
maria2024202422-05-2025 - Poor decision to let Primoz come back. Should have tried to put time into him.
Front24222-05-2025 - You're so wrong ! Froome needs to go away!frieders322-05-2025
- Shows a lot of class for such a young guyCrashjames22-05-2025
- Think how strong the team could be without Froome consuming all that money with nil to show for it. Sad. Selfish on his part tbhCrashjames22-05-2025
- Tom Dumoulin said out loud what many people were already thinking.
santiagobenites21-05-2025 - He’s also taking the place and money of many more deserving (and just as useful) riders (who’d significantly reduce costs). Only thing CF does for IPT is help them stay relevant for discussion because there’s no such thing as bad publicity if you don’t have a reputation to consider.Mistermaumau21-05-2025
- We’ll see. I’m still trying to figure out how GT cycling went from being a climbing defined event to a 3 week event around a couple of short TTs. All the contenders more or less cancel each other climbing and then grow huge (as the media defines the time spans now) gaps when riding on bikes not made for GTs, quite ironic really.Mistermaumau21-05-2025
- When you read this you get the impression they ride without radios or don’t have a common language for communication.Mistermaumau21-05-2025
- That was a very nice ride by Richard Carapaz. His team set him up perfectly for that attack.santiagobenites21-05-2025
I don't have that much body fat, myself. It is just a skinny carrot🥕 weight just over 40kg.
Fat? You mean body fat? Isn't body meant to keep you warm?
When did any pure climber in history ever have any fat?
There have been worse conditions in the past when clothing was far less developed.
Today, there is no excuse, there is suitable clothing for every situation, it may take away marginal marginal gains and if that worries you, it’s your choice to make between finishing a few places lower or not at all assuming a few will estimate not needing those clothes and of those some will perform slightly better whilst others will suffer more losses than gains.
Sorry, the whole reason for the problem was bad preparation and strategy due to the assumption nobody would think of creating chaos in those conditions (and I’m sure those who did learnt their lesson, unless they actually had that plan in advance (including abandoning) knowing what would ensue and the advantage it would give the team for a more important goal).