Sylvain Chavanel actually looks normal...

[MattTuck]

A nice departure from the greyhound like physiques of some pro riders....

Something even us fatties can aspire to...

http://cdn1.media.cyclingnews.futurecdn.net/2012/02/27/2/dsc_4453_600.jpg

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . belly breathing. Seriously. Maximizes lung volume.

BBD

[Fixed]

ouch riding that bike for five + hours
cheers

[fiamme red]

According to the Quick-Step bio (http://www.omegapharma-quickstep.com/en/team/rider/sylvain-chavanel), he's 182 cm tall (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in) and weighs 70 kg (154 lbs).

I wouldn't call him a "fatty." :rolleyes:

[phcollard]

I never noticed he has a tattoo. And what are those spectators looking at btw?

[tsarpepe]

I don't know whether it's the picture or what, but one wheel looks bigger than the other, and he looks enormous on that frame.

[MattTuck]

I don't know whether it's the picture or what, but one wheel looks bigger than the other, and he looks enormous on that frame.

Yeah, I think it's the weird low angle shot. I only meant, he looks normal with regard to his gut.... NOT that he picture isn't a big strange.

He looks like a giant compared to the spectators... the angle does funny things.

[nightfend]

A nice departure from the greyhound like physiques of some pro riders....

Something even us fatties can aspire to...

http://cdn1.media.cyclingnews.futurecdn.net/2012/02/27/2/dsc_4453_600.jpg

Though it looks similar, that is not a fat belly. Off the bike, if he had his jersey off, you would clearly see his abdominal muscles. None of the Pro Tour riders ride above 10% body fat. Well, okay, maybe Marc Cavendish at the VERY beginning of the season... :)

[MattTuck]

The more I look at the picture, the more bizzare it gets. I think it was taken with a pretty significant fish eye lens. There's really nothing 'normal' about that picture, except his gut.

He looks bizarre.

And for the record, I didn't call HIM a fatty. Just saying that we can aspire to look like that.

As opposed to....

http://www3.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/George+Hincapie+2008+Tour+de+France+Time+Trial+Ut3 WIzfGyvyl.jpg

[EDS]

The more I look at the picture, the more bizzare it gets. I think it was taken with a pretty significant fish eye lens. There's really nothing 'normal' about that picture, except his gut.

He looks bizarre.

And for the record, I didn't call HIM a fatty. Just saying that we can aspire to look like that.

As opposed to....

http://www3.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/George+Hincapie+2008+Tour+de+France+Time+Trial+Ut3 WIzfGyvyl.jpg

Personnally, I don't want to be as skinny as most pro tour racers but I don't want to have a gut either.

[AgilisMerlin]

He looks fat in that picture.

I am thinking, it probably keeps him warm in 45 degree wet weather.

Go ride over 150km for 3 or 4 days straight. fat is relative

[charliedid]

Wide angle distortion.

[saab2000]

Some of these guys carry as much as 10 lbs extra over the winter. That is not really likely to manifest itself in a beer gut. These folks are lean and even when overweight look semi anorexic.

What you are seeing is belly breathing. Also, it's not so much a technique as some folks have lungs that just push out like that naturally.

He's not fat.

[AgilisMerlin]

http://cdn4.media.cyclingnews.futurecdn.net//2012/01/25/1/bettiniphoto_0096392_1_full_600.jpg

it's february

[azrider]

A nice departure from the greyhound like physiques of some pro riders....

Something even us fatties can aspire to...

http://cdn1.media.cyclingnews.futurecdn.net/2012/02/27/2/dsc_4453_600.jpg


I look at this and all I can think about is a circus Bear on a tiny bicycle. That bike is sideshow small.....

[TMB]

According to the Quick-Step bio (http://www.omegapharma-quickstep.com/en/team/rider/sylvain-chavanel), he's 182 cm tall (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in) and weighs 70 kg (154 lbs).

I wouldn't call him a "fatty." :rolleyes:


And yet he is riding a kids' bike.

[cfox]

If you met Sylvain Chavanel in person, you would want to buy him a cheeseburger. I have seen so many shots of guys belly breathing (including Contador), and it looks like they've got a big Joe. They don't. It's weird, in order to look semi-athletic (read: non fat) on a bike, you have to look super skinny in street clothes. In order to look skinny on a bike, you need to look unhealthily skeletal in street clothes. The few pro-tour guys I've met are freakishly lean.

[67-59]

If you met Sylvain Chavanel in person, you would want to buy him a cheeseburger. I have seen so many shots of guys belly breathing (including Contador), and it looks like they've got a big Joe. They don't. It's weird, in order to look semi-athletic (read: non fat) on a bike, you have to look super skinny in street clothes. In order to look skinny on a bike, you need to look unhealthily skeletal in street clothes. The few pro-tour guys I've met are freakishly lean.

Then I can only imagine what Andy Schleck looks like in street clothes.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . speak at Belmont Wheelworks in Boston some years ago. He looked like a 12 year old who had shopped in the men's department. He was tiny and just lost in his clothing.

Schlecks must look like concentration camp escapees . . .

BBD

[Charles M]

Jered Gruber took that pic... I'll just askin him.

[echappist]

what a fatty
http://www.grassyknolltv.com/2010/tour-de-france/photos/stage-12/200-RTR2GGYR.jpg

[BumbleBeeDave]

what a fatty
http://www.grassyknolltv.com/2010/tour-de-france/photos/stage-12/200-RTR2GGYR.jpg

. . . varicose vein is bigger than Contador.

BBD

[echappist]

zing! well played.

if you look at the pictures from stage 8 of the 2010 tdf, you'd have seen that Jani Brajkovic (sp?) also sported a gut. And we've all seen the photo of him in the 2008 Giro di Lombardia

[rdparadise]

Chavenal's bike looks awful small for such a tall guy. The gut is belly breathing and I agree with BBD.

Bob

[Charles M]

From the photog...

It's a cropped shot from a super wide lens. He was at the left part of the original image resulting in that distortion. Shot with a Nikon D3s and shot at 14mm. It's wiiiide.

It also effects the view of the body...

kinda like the guy in the background isnt 7 feet tall and 450 pounds...

[killacks]

Does this make me look fat?


:beer:

[Hartlin]

Phil Gil looks to be the only person on BMC wearing a medium jersey.

http://cdn2.media.cyclingnews.futurecdn.net/2012/01/30/2/bmc_training_camp_2012_076_600.jpg