{"id":92918,"date":"2025-08-26T01:39:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T01:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/92918\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T01:39:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T01:39:15","slug":"poels-slams-vollering-and-reusser-over-nasty-weight-comments-about-ferrand-prevot-such-sore-losers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/92918\/","title":{"rendered":"Poels slams Vollering and Reusser over nasty weight comments about Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot: “Such sore losers”"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been three weeks since Pauline Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot<\/a> won the Tour de France Femmes<\/a>. The French rider from Visma <\/a>| Lease a Bike dominated in spectacular fashion, but after the race, much of the talk was about her weight. Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot appeared extremely lean, and according to some, too lean. Wout Poels<\/a> responded sharply to that criticism during the In Koers podcast with Dylan van Baarle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Van Baarle, Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot\u2019s partner, heard Poels praise her commanding performance. \u201cI thought it was great to watch. I followed almost every stage,\u201d said the XDS-Astana climber. \u201cIt was incredible. Very impressive when you set such a clear goal and then ride away from the competition like that\u2026 hats off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, the Frenchwoman\u2019s weight remained a talking point, with rivals speaking making comments about it. \u201cShe\u2019s set a new standard, because if female riders can be this successful with that approach, it puts pressure on all of us,\u201d said Marlen Reusser<\/a>. \u201cBut what does this mean for the body? Could it be harmful to be that thin, even for a short time?\u201d Demi Vollering<\/a> also weighed in: \u201cI hope young girls don\u2019t now think they have to be super skinny to climb well in the mountains.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo!<\/p>\n

\"pauline-ferrand-prevot\"\/<\/p>\n

Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot flew to two stage wins and yellow in the Tour de France Femmes.<\/p>\n

“I thought it was disgraceful what was said”<\/p>\n

That controversy didn\u2019t sit well with Poels. \u201cI was really disappointed about all the fuss surrounding her weight. In fact, I thought it was disgraceful what was being said, people arguing about whether it was healthy or not. I just thought: such sore losers. Riders saying they want to set a healthy example, and all that. I was like: we’re professional athletes, and that means pushing your limits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot eventually had to respond to the criticism. \u201cIt\u2019s my job to be the best I can be, so I made choices and worked hard for them,\u201d said the Tour winner. Poels finds the whole thing absurd. \u201cInstead of people saying how impressive Pauline\u2019s performance was, the conversation ended up being all about her weight. It felt like she had to defend herself. I thought it was disgraceful. It just wasn\u2019t okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo!<\/p>\n

\"Demi-Vollering\"\/<\/p>\n

Demi Vollering, among others, was critical of her French competitor’s weight.<\/p>\n

Poels: “Back at Team Sky, people used to say I had anorexia too”<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just female riders who get comments about their weight. \u201cWhen I was at Team Sky, people often said I had anorexia,\u201d said the 37-year-old from Limburg. \u201cWe\u2019re in elite sport, and if you want to climb a mountain fast, it\u2019s all about the power-to-weight ratio. Of course, you\u2019re not supposed to end up with an eating disorder, but now they acted like she was racing with anorexia. That\u2019s really unfair to someone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDylan just mentioned how she reconned every stage from start to finish in their camper van. But when it comes down to it, she has to defend herself for having a top athlete\u2019s mindset and doing everything it takes. And then she gets all that crap thrown at her. I thought it was really sad. She responded well, but I think it\u2019s pathetic that she even had to.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been three weeks since Pauline Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot won the Tour de France Femmes. The French rider from Visma…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-92918","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}