Cédrine Kerbaol's Tour de France, Stage 6: "It's not easy to talk about weight loss in the peloton"

This is already her third Grande Boucle. After two successful editions (white jersey for best young rider in 2023 and stage victory last year), Cédrine Kerbaol , 24, returns with her sights set on the podium in the general classification. Each evening, the EF Education-Oatly rider reports on the day's stage for Libération . This Thursday, July 31, she is in 14th place in a sixth stage between Clermont-Ferrand and Ambert, won solo by Frenchwoman Maëva Squiban (UAE-ADQ). Kerbaol climbs one place in the general classification, she is now 9th.

“It feels good to get back into the style of racing that allows me to enjoy myself. We managed to get two of us from the team, with Magdeleine [Vallieres] in the final. It was really great to be able to count on her.

"I attacked after the Col du Béal because I know there are people who are more disadvantaged on the descents. The goal was to try to make a selection and have fun. I've always worked on the descents unconsciously, because I've always had fun doing it. But it's true that during training camp we found ourselves every day with the girls from the team having fun on the descent, practicing the turns.

"I think what I like about climbing is the fact that the groups are a little smaller. There's less friction, it's less stressful. And then the efforts are a little closer to those you find in the time trial [Cédrine Kerbaol was twice French champion in the discipline, editor's note]. Something more linear, with fewer restarts. It's really a time when you can focus on your effort.

"Quite a few media outlets were interested in what I said in L'Humanité and on France 2 [a nutritionist by training, the rider warned about the dangers of extreme weight loss in cycling]. I also think that these are discussions that a lot of people in the peloton have. It's a bit taboo, so it's obviously not easy to talk about it. The subject of weight has intensified in recent months and years. What happens is that when we have people who succeed [by being very thin], they will be looked at by others and they unconsciously become role models. Inevitably, we end up with people who think that it's the absolute truth and that this is how you have to do it to be successful."