Cycling has a body image problem: what’s causing it and what you can do about it?

Looking sleek, stylish and fast is an integral part of cycling, but brings with it a pressure to conform. Chris Marshall-Bell breaks the taboo on the sport’s body-image troubles

A male cyclist looking at his body in a mirror
(Image credit: Future)

This article was originally published in Cycling Weekly's print edition as part of the WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT series tackling taboos and raising awareness of cycling-related health issues.  

When Jacob Ward took up cycling during the Covid-19 lockdown of 2020, inspired by watching the Tour de France, he was instantly hooked. “I was so impressed by their feats of endurance that I wanted to be like them,” he remembers. But there was one hitch: as a former rugby player and keen bodybuilder since his teenage years, Ward was bulkier than the average road cyclist. “My physique was abnormal for a cyclist and I had quite a lot of pushback, negative comments, people assuming I wasn’t good enough for cycling because of how I looked.” 

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Chris Marshall-Bell