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Fuglsang too fat to win the Giro d'Italia, Andersen says

published 3 December 2011

Weight loss and good form could give the Dane the win

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Jakob Fuglsang at the 2012 Giro d'Italia presentation (Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Jakob Fuglsang is overweight, and if he doesn't lose weight, he won't win the Giro d'Italia next year. That is the opinion of his RadioShack-Nissan-Trek sporting director Kim Andersen, who also guided the Dane this year at Leopard Trek.

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"He must lose two per cent of body fat. Otherwise he can not make it all the way up the steep mountains," Andersen told sporten.tv2.dk.

Fuglsang is listed on the team's website at only 69 kg, with a height of 182 cm.

Andersen sees the case as a simple one. "If he loses the weight he can compete. If he loses the weight and is in good form, then he can be right up there.”

Fuglsang has already been named the team's captain for the Giro. “We will build a team around him,” said Andersen.

However, the Giro captaincy will probably mean he will have only a helper role at the Tour de France, where the team goal is to bring Andy and Fränk Schleck on to the podium again. That is, if he even rides the Tour.

"It will be in an auxiliary role. I think we can count on that. But it is not certain that it will be so,” Andersen noted. “It is impossible to say, for it may well be that he is completely finished after Giro.”