Wiggins & His Weight Loss

During the 2009 Tour de France, Bradley Wiggins was riding uphill a lot faster than he had during previous years. Known primarily as a track cyclist and time trialist, the word on the street regarding Wiggins’ improved climbing performances had to do with (a) training, and (b) weight loss.

Let’s disregard part (a) for now and focus on part (b). Quite simply, part (b) is pure crap.

Years ago, we heard a similar story about Lance Armstrong. He came back from testicular cancer and, as a result of losing a lot of weight (as Paul Sherwen once commentated, “He did lose a lot of weight due that illness he had,”), he was going uphill a lot faster than he had previously in his career.

Can we, once and for all, recognize this as total bullsh*t?

For the most part, cyclists are notoriously thin. Further, when someone drops ten to fifteen pounds, it’s usually pretty damn obvious. It’s especially obvious when the person who’s lost all that weight didn’t really have ten to fifteen pounds to spare.

Of course, you don’t have to take my word for it. Let’s go to the tape. Let’s check the pictures which are widely available online.

Here’s Lance pre-cancer, during the early 1990s:



He’s not exactly looking chubby, is he? Further, he doesn’t even look overly athletic. Rather, he looks like a typical road cyclist: well-defined legs and an incredibly slender upper body.

Now here he is in 1999 at the Tour de France:



Granted, he may appear a bit more ripped in the above pic, but I think that probably has to do with the perceived level of exertion, meaning he’s riding a lot harder in the 1999 pic than he is riding alongside Greg LeMond.

Regardless of the definition, where exactly did this massive weight loss come from? As far as I’m concerned, the pre-cancer physique and the 1999 Tour de France physique appear pretty damn identical, so when commentators this year were talking about Bradley Wiggins and his alleged weight loss, I decided to do the same exercise: go to the tape.

Here’s Wiggins when he rode for Cofidis:





And now here he is, this year.



My eyesight is just fine. I’m not seeing seven kilograms (the amount of weight Wiggins claims to have lost), which translates into 15.4 pounds, of weight loss. Fifteen pounds is a lot, especially to these guys.

Between you and me, I don’t think the improved performance Wiggins put together has anything to do with weight loss. And if it’s not weight loss, then what is it? I’m sure you can figure that one out on your own. For example, check out this interview on NYVelocity.com. Here’s a clip: