Surprising facts you didn’t know about pro cyclists

March 22, 2021

Have you ever thought about how it is to be a pro cyclist? It has its many rewards and can bring fame, but it also requires a lot of incredible work and sacrifices.

Surprising facts you didn’t know about pro cyclists

Miguel Indurain, Alberto Contador, Bernard Hinault, Eddie Merckx, and of course Lance Armstrong are some of the greatest pro cyclists in history. And they all share the highest fame in this sport. These pro cyclists shined in the Grand Tour – Giro d’Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a Espana – and they are an inspiration for many.

Those in business along with Peter Sagan and Richie Porte are still the favorites to win the biggest cycling tournaments in the world, according to the odds offered by sports betting Canada.

There are millions of fans around the world, either assisting the race along the road, watching it on TV, or cheering for their favorites in other ways.

But what is it like to be a pro cyclist? Which are the hardest parts, the unknown events in a race, how does a cyclist manage to go on through this highly demanding sport?

Here are some of the surprising facts many cycling fans probably don’t know about the pro cyclists:

If a rider flats during a race, the group will not stop. Instead, the rider is motor-paced back to the group, after the wheel is replaced.
Changing a tire and cleaning a bike is probably the most a rider can do from a mechanical point of view. All the rest is left for their mechanics.
There is more than just one bike for each rider. For a grand tour, each rider has at least 3 bikes – one or two for each of the following: Training, time trials, and then is the road race.
The riders can be good at one-day classics races, or at winning or supporting the team leader during the stage racing season – like one of the three grand tours. This way, there are basically two unofficial groups of cyclists – one for the classics and one for the stage riders.
If you wonder how they eat, we can tell you that they use to have meals at different tables from the other members of the team – coaches and team staff. This way, the cyclists can relieve a little of the pressure before the races.
That is because, yes, all the cyclists get nervous before the races, even if there are only small races or one-day races.
One way they can get read of part of that stress is by drinking coffee – and that is a unifying stereotype for almost all the riders.
Back to the eating part: As a pro cyclist, you will need between 5,000 and 7,000 calories every day, depending on the stage. In the off-season, a cyclist will put on 5 to 10 pounds, and that is the maximum because no pro can afford to be unfit.
Most of the cyclists don’t get rich. This is one of those costly sports for which a rider needs support from his family, friends, or secondary sources of income, like a part-time job. This is mostly a passion rather than a highly rewarding business sport.
They are more germophobe than the rest of us. That is because they have to stay 100% healthy to put up all that effort on the bike.
Cyclists take the outside temperature very seriously. Usually, during a training ride, they stop to change clothing, at the bottom or at the top of a big climb – at the bottom to lose any additional layer, or at the top to change the shirt with a dry one, or even put on a thermal jacket, because the descent is “colder”.
When descending, the Tour de France cyclists can reach around 62 mph. Do you think that is much? Well, back in 2018, American cyclist Denise Mueller-Korenek set a new “bicycle speed in slipstream” record of 183.9 mph.