It’s not that I thought today’s stage would be the decisive stage that could win the Tour for anyone, but I knew that in order for Lance to be in the group with the main yellow jersey contenders today, he had to lose some serious weight. In the past, Lance had managed his caloric intake for relatively short periods of time in order to lose a few kilos here or there, but losing kilos of muscle meant having to restrict his caloric intake over a much longer period of time. Through the winter and spring, Lance’s weight kept gradually coming down, but even going into the Tour of Italy in May I was still concerned that he might not be able to reach his Tour de France weight in time for the start in Monaco. I knew the intensity and duration of the Tour of Italy would help him lose some weight, but since he’d never done a Grand Tour in the spring as preparation for the Tour de France, I didn’t know exactly how much weight loss to expect. Between the start of the Tour of Italy and the start of the Tour de France, he not only lost the final two kilos he needed in order to get down to his normal Tour de France weight of 72 kilograms, but he actually dipped below that by another half a kilogram. I’m relieved that Lance’s efforts to return to his Tour de France weight were effective and didn’t prevent him from simultaneously rebuilding his endurance and sustainable power output. read more
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