{"id":843881,"date":"2026-08-03T06:44:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T06:44:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/843881\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T06:44:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T06:44:20","slug":"i-havent-had-my-period-for-three-years-tour-de-france-femmes-mountain-leader-exposes-the-severe-health-toll-of-elite-cycling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/843881\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI haven\u2019t had my period for three years\u201d: Tour de France Femmes mountain leader exposes the severe health toll of elite cycling"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nThe 24-year-old, riding for French ProTeam Ma Petite Entreprise, admitted the achievement exceeded her expectations. \u201cIt’s incredible. It’s my first Tour de France, it’s the first stage, it’s the team’s first Tour and I’m so happy,\u201d she said in words gathered by RMC Sport<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The result also sent a strong message about her newly formed team. \u201cWe’re showing that we don’t have to be ashamed in front of the bigger teams. It’s such an iconic jersey, it’s amazing. I think I’ll be looking at myself in the mirror a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe \u2018Come on, Oc\u00e9ane!\u2019 cheers… I think the other girls in the breakaway must have been fed up because they were all for me. It was fantastic. There were people all along the roadside. We weren’t bored for a single moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the race began, Mah\u00e9 also spoke candidly about the health consequences of the extreme physical demands placed on professional cyclists.<\/p>\n

The topic of Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) has become increasingly prominent in women’s cycling, with one of its common symptoms being the loss of the menstrual cycle. Mah\u00e9 revealed she has experienced exactly that after significant weight loss. \u201cI haven’t had my period for three years.\u201d<\/p>\n

She explained that the issue reflects the strain elite competition places on athletes’ bodies. \u201cIt’s not necessarily good news, but we know that as elite athletes we push our bodies enormously. We use up our reserves and unfortunately my hormonal system decided to go into standby a little over three years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HOusexEXgAA_ge4\"\/<\/p>\n

Lorena Wiebes won the second stage of the Tour de France Femmes 2026<\/p>\n

Building a career despite financial challenges<\/p>\n

After Ark\u00e9a-B&B H\u00f4tels folded at the end of the 2025 season, Mah\u00e9 found a new opportunity with Ma Petite Entreprise, a unique project financially supported by hundreds of entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

Despite competing at the highest level, she revealed her financial situation remains modest. \u201cThis year my salary is just a little above the French minimum wage. I earn exactly \u20ac1,550 per month.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her income is supplemented by both family support and an engineering internship. \u201cMy parents still help me a little, especially with paying my rent. I also receive an internship allowance because I’m an engineering intern at a company, which gives me a little extra and makes things more comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite not being present in the breakaway of the day in stage 2, Mah\u00e9 managed to retain the jersey, only 1 point ahead of Anouska Koster. Stage 3 will be another key day for her, as there will be four categorized climbs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 24-year-old, riding for French ProTeam Ma Petite Entreprise, admitted the achievement exceeded her expectations. \u201cIt’s incredible.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":843882,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82,19487],"class_list":["post-843881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-tour-de-france-femmes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=843881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}