LeMond on today’s ultra-thin cyclists and his idea to restore credibility in the sport

LeMond is deeply concerned about the extreme pressure on today’s riders to be as light as possible. "The basic thing is riders today, forced upon by the teams, are stressing weight," LeMond said during a Rouleur Live session earlier this month, as reported by Cyclingnews. "I read about riders taking sleeping pills just to get past the hunger… there’s a tremendous pressure on weight."

He noted the drastic change in rider physiques over the years. "Weight to power ratio has always been there, but you see some of the riders, they do not look like the same species of humans that I was racing. There is no muscle mass. I’m about 178 centimetres tall, I look at riders and I see they’re 60 kilos. I was 68 kilos!"

In cycling, eight kilos makes a world of difference. "I think the average peloton weight is three or four kilos lighter. Today, if I was racing, I would have to go into starvation mode to catabolically eat away muscle mass and that’s very difficult. To me, that explains the average overall speed going up. If every kilo is about a minute on a climb, three kilos is three minutes. It's a big deal."

The three-time Tour winner also addressed the credibility of cycling in 2024. "If you look at Vingegaard and Pogacar, I think it’s not unthinkable to do what they’re doing. It’s within the realms of possibility." As evidence, LeMond points to Vingegaard’s exceptional VO2 max, which is around 96 ml/kg/min.

Because of its history, cycling is a sport where extreme success is always followed by speculation and doubt — a reality Pogacar has experienced firsthand this year. LeMond, however, has a solution that could eliminate speculation entirely. "Release your data. I would love to see the UCI go ‘Okay, it’s mandatory two times a year to release your VO2 max and measure your haematocrit with a blood test'." He says it would be very easy to know if someone cheated once you have baseline measurements. "If you have a VO2 max of 83 and your haematocrit is pretty low, you can’t do those feats. It’s simple to have transparency."