Just In: LeMond on today’s very thin riders and his plan to make the sport more respectable

The famous 1989 Tour de France comes to mind as soon as you hear the name Greg LeMond. LeMond won the exciting time trial from Versailles to Paris by the narrowest gap ever seen in the history of the race. The famous American cyclist, who is now 63 years old, thinks about the sport today and the work of stars like Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard.

LeMond is very worried about how much pressure riders are under these days to be as light as possible. In a Rouleur Live session earlier this month, LeMond said, “The basic thing is riders today are stressing weight because their teams make them.” This was reported by Cyclingnews. “I read about riders taking sleeping pills just to get past the hunger… there’s a tremendous pressure on weight.”

He noticed that rider bodies have changed a lot over the years. “The ratio of weight to power has always been there, but some of the riders don’t look like the same kind of people I raced.” There isn’t any mass. I’m about 178 centimetres tall, and the horses look like they weigh 30 kg. I weighed 68 kg!”

8 kg is a huge amount of weight when it comes to riding. “I believe the average peloton weight is three or four kilos less.” These days, if I wanted to race, I would have to starve myself to break down muscle mass, which is hard to do. That makes sense to me as to why the average speed is going up. In a rise, one kilo is equal to one minute. Three kilos is equal to three minutes. It’s very important.

LeMond’s plan to show that riding is real

The three-time Tour winner also talked about how trustworthy riding is in 2024. “Look at Vingegaard and Pogacar. I don’t think it’s impossible to do what they’re doing.” It’s possible that it could happen. LeMond uses Vingegaard’s very high VO2 max, which is about 96 ml/kg/min, as proof.

Because of its past, cycling is a sport where huge wins are always followed by rumours and doubt. This year, Pogacar has seen this for himself. LeMond, on the other hand, has an idea that might get rid of all debate. “Give up your info. I’d love for the UCI to say, “Okay, you have to get your VO2 max and haematocrit checked twice a year.” Based on the baseline readings, he says it would be simple to spot if someone lied. “You can’t do those things if your VO2 max is 83 and your haemoglobin isn’t very high.” Being open and honest is easy.”