Pro Rider Weight

[elf1978]

When I research rider profiles, their weight seems to be abnormally low for their height. Even during the season, many of these pro tour cyclists seem much heavier than their given weight. For example: Tom Danielson 5'10", 130 lbs? Wouldn't he be emaciated?
I wonder whether these profiles possess a tendency to exaggerate weight in an effort to make the rider seem more "fit", much the same way professional sports teams in the USA allot an inch or two to a player's height?

Thanks in advance

 

[titleshot]

They are probably pretty close to their claimed weights, give or take 5lbs.

I weigh in at about 140lbs, 5'10" and my weight fluxes up and down 5lbs depending on what I eat for the day.
So I am sure they arent fixed at 130lbs for the entire tour or the entire racing season. It is probably just their ideal(in form) race weight.


Just like the NBA calling 6'10" guys 7 footers.

 

[TERMINATOR]

When I research rider profiles, their weight seems to be abnormally low for their height. Even during the season, many of these pro tour cyclists seem much heavier than their given weight. For example: Tom Danielson 5'10", 130 lbs? Wouldn't he be emaciated?
I wonder whether these profiles possess a tendency to exaggerate weight in an effort to make the rider seem more "fit", much the same way professional sports teams in the USA allot an inch or two to a player's height?

Thanks in advance

Eating disorders and mild anorexia.

 

[forty four]

They are probably pretty close to their claimed weights, give or take 5lbs.

I weigh in at about 140lbs, 5'10" and my weight fluxes up and down 5lbs depending on what I eat for the day.
So I am sure they arent fixed at 130lbs for the entire tour or the entire racing season. It is probably just their ideal(in form) race weight.


Just like the NBA calling 6'10" guys 7 footers.

you do not lose 5lbs of adipose tissue in a day ever. you only lose or gain water weight in the lbs daily based on salt levels hydration and what you eat. seen my weight vary by ten lbs in a day.

 

[DarkWarrior]

I have noticed that rider weights seem incorrect in many cases and noticed Danielson in particular because the old Discovery website had him listed at 129 lbs which I thought was ridiculous. I knew a guy who was around that height that actually weighed in the 120 lb range and Danielson looks nowhere near as emaciated as him. I saw Danielson up close at the Tour of Missouri a couple years back he's a couple inches shorter than 5'10" at least and I would guess 5 to 10 lbs heavier that than 130 lbs which puts him more in the Leipheimer size range.

Menchov is another that I have noticed as highly exaggerated. I have seen him listed as low as 143, which puts him in Schleck range and he obviously is nowhere near that looking at him.

 

[elf1978]

Eating disorders and mild anorexia.

I don't think any case of anorexia is mild, you either have it or you don't(personal experience). Most of these men have no issue putting weight on during the off-season. Perhaps the UCI pr machine wants to maintain the brutal all-or-nothing mentality of the pro-peloton by using weight as another measure of discipline.
Many riders on my team continue to believe that weight loss is the answer to all their climbing issues. I guess when you see a "5'10" 130 lb" cyclist motor up a hill, image is everything.

 

[BigBoat]

I've seen & stood next to Danielson up close, he's about 5-8 tops....135 pounds. He's very lean but Levi is leaner in my opinion. Fat wise. Its mostly about body fat %. Now you cant be too heavy in muscle mass if your a G.C. guy, but as long as your not hitting the weights you dont have to worry about excess muscle.

Cavendish is probably 5-9 and 160.

 

[Oldman]

They are almost all tiny in the GC ranks and the tall ones exceptionally skinny. That is pretty much the body type for the race demands. My friend saw Contador up close at last year's tt and couldn't believe somebody that small could go that fast.

 

[brianf7]

i used to be like that 30 years ago but not now its all about youth they all gain waight eventualy as the mature

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

Something for your kids to strive for....

 

[liftman]

Something for your kids to strive for....

I still haven't figured out where he kept his lungs. There doesn't seem to be any room in his chest.

 

[krebs303]

He looks a little beefy compared to Tyler.

 

[stephens]

I think a lot of people, especially Americans, have a misconception over what a "healthy" weight actually is. They seem to think that one must carry a protective layer of body fat all over to be considered "healthy". I just don't get it. I'm 6'0", 143 (184cm/65kg) and have been for the last 25+ years and there is nothing unhealthy about this size.

Watch some boxing or MMA matches in the 135 and 145 weight classes and see what the guys look like at weigh in. They are carrying significantly more muscle than a cyclist needs of course, but they look plenty healthy at those low weights and there are plenty of guys who are 5'8 and over in those weight classes.

 

[greenedge]

I think they lose weight before each GT to be in ideal prep and then they maybe lose a few more KG there. They probably base it on what their ideal weight for a GT is.

 

[ustabe]

It seems like the ideal for GC contenders is less mass. All-arounders who could win grand tours, like Merckx, Moser, Hinault, Fignon, and LeMond, were lean but not especially emaciated. Of course, these guys could also win a "big man's" race like Paris-Roubaix once in a while, too.

 

[craig1985]

Something for your kids to strive for....

That really can't be healthy.

 

[stephens]

...then apparently "unhealthy" people make the world's greatest distance cyclists and runners.

 

[krebs303]

Health and physical fitness are not the same.

 

[stephens]

I guess if you say so, that settles it.

The angle of that picture and the skin tones exaggerates things and makes him (is that Rasumussen?) look even skinnier than he really is. It's not a physically attractive look, but it's not something people should look at and automatically consider "unhealthy" the way we can say with almost certainty that a man with, say, 20% body fat is "unhealthy".

 

[cyclopeon]

I think a lot of people, especially Americans, have a misconception over what a "healthy" weight actually is. They seem to think that one must carry a protective layer of body fat all over to be considered "healthy". ...

Well, for Northern americans a bit of body fat comes in pretty handy when winter sets in!!

 

[veganrob]

Health and physical fitness are not the same.

100% correct. You see physically fit people dropping dead all the time, Healthy people ....no.

 

[durianrider]

Its all about your BMI and how you get there. I sit around 19-21 all year. Eat healthy and train smart and your good to go. Starve and train hard and get run down and burnt out then yo yo diet whilst you live in the starve, binge, starve binge nutter rut.

I know Hamilton would eat a raw vegan programme to get his weight down. A lot of these guys eat vego/vegan to drop the excess body blubber.

Here is a book some of you's could read.

 

[Cycle Chic]

I,ve seen the top teams at a few major races - and they ARE very skinny - and the television puts on 10lbs. They arent emaciated or anorexic, just no fat at all. Apparently the Schlecks are the 2 riders who DO look like they are ill.

To get skinny legs you must just lose weight.

 

[craig1985]

Mike Freidman must be the opposite of Michael Rasmussen:

No wonder they call him meatball.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

Its all about your BMI and how you get there. I sit around 19-21 all year. Eat healthy and train smart and your good to go. Starve and train hard and get run down and burnt out then yo yo diet whilst you live in the starve, binge, starve binge nutter rut.

I know Hamilton would eat a raw vegan programme to get his weight down. A lot of these guys eat vego/vegan to drop the excess body blubber.

Here is a book some of you's could read.

Hell no it ain't