The Tour de France is a grueling race, consisting of 21 day-long stages that cover 2,200 miles. The annual event is currently weaving its way through France right now, running from July 1 to July 23.
When people talk or think about the Tour de France, images such as Lance Armstrong or nasty bike crashes come to mind. But how often do we see the effects that cyclists have suffered from pushing their bodies to their extremes?
Thanks to Polish cyclist Pawel Poljanski, we now know what racing in the event can do to an athlete’s legs while competing in the Tour de France.
Three big things ran through my head when I saw that:
1. Well, that just can’t be healthy.
2. He either has a very awkward tan or sun burn.
3. Seriously, how is this healthy and does this happen to every rider?
It honestly looks as if all the fat has been stripped away from Poljanski’s legs, leaving nothing but muscle, skin and veins. I do wonder though if this is comparable to how his legs looked after 14 or 15 or if they took a significant jump after 16.
As pointed out by The Telegraph, current race leader Chris Froome showed a similar photo of his legs (and veins) back in 2014.
Our man @chrisfroome is looking absolutely ripped ahead of #LBL on Sunday! (Photo: @michellecound) #VaVaFroome pic.twitter.com/UGePCkvwKU
— INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) April 23, 2014
Poljanski is currently 75th in the race after he placed 66th in the 16th stage before taking the gross picture of his veiny legs. After the picture was posted, Dr. Bradley Launikonis from the University of Queensland explained to ABC how the frightening image occurred.
“The amount of blood that we get normally going down to our legs is five litres per minute, for anyone at rest. For an untrained athlete, their maximum exercise will have 20 litres per minute flowing through the muscles,” he told the told ABC.
“One of these elite cyclists will have double that, about 40 litres per minute. They have massive volumes of blood moving through.
“The blood can pool there and that’s what’s happening in this extreme case. There is blood pooling in his veins which is why you’re seeing them (so visibly).”
I never really thought I needed to hear Lance Armstrong talk about the Tour de France again, but now I just want to know if he ever experienced something similar to Poljanski.
