The Tour de France Pro Who GAINED 20kg And Started Winning

A pro hill climber is known to have a skinny physique, but Jonas Abrahamsen from Team Uno-X gives a whole new perspective to the hill climbing specialist. Ever since gaining 20kg and new training regime, he has been winning a number of races leading up to Le Tour. Intrigued by his rise, Dan Lloyd asks just what his secrets are!

00:00 Can gaining weight improve cycling performance?
01:02 Aspirations as a young cyclist
05:26 Gaining weight to become a better cyclist
09:40 Did the training change?
14:27 A win-win situation with a longer career as well?
15:36 Do you get sick often?
16:11 A new perspective to pro-cycling
17:08 Do you ever compare yourself to other riders?
19:15 What is your caloric intake for the Tour de France?
21:09 Thank you Jonas!

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in the world of cycling there is an obsession with weight losing weight and you can understand why if you can maintain your power output and lose weight at the same time you’re going to ride faster now unfortunately for many this has led to eating disorders which is a subject we covered in depth in a GCM plus documentary called weight of the pelaton uh incidentally you can now watch that documentary here on YouTube through our casket membership scheme it’s rare though to find anyone who’s deliberately putting on weight but that’s exactly what yonas abrahamson of Uno X has done just a few years ago he weighed sub 60 kilos but in the time since then he’s put on 20 kilos which is £44 deliberately and this year he started winning big at the Belgian Classics it is a truly fascinating story and one that I’m pretty sure many of you at home are going to find very inspiring indeed let’s go and find yonas now Jonas thank you firstly for taking the time out just before the tour to France which is starting on Saturday um I want you to take me and our viewers back to your earliest days as a cyclist you know your first time on a bike your first time competing and what your aspirations were as a cyclist then yes um I started to ride uh pretty late when I was like 15 uh 15 15 years old and uh and I come from football playing football and get that injury there and I have to start to ride a bike into to rehab the KNE um so uh after that I just Lo to to bike and uh was starting with my first race when I was 15 years old and after three three race I won my first race and I was thinking this is something for me and uh then I get opportunity for the national team the year after and I come was a pretty good Rider then um but I was also very skinny when I was uh when I start to cycling around the 58 60 kilo um yes so there there there it starts yeah and is your is your family all quite skinny cuz mine are you know I never had a struggle with weight as a cyclist because my family was always super skinny anyway it was natural for me yeah I don’t think it’s very skinny but uh I think I always have been active uh and I also before I start recycling I work as a Electrical uh and have U uh um and have to work like U 7 7 a half hour per day and also riding a b bike after so then I did did it for two and a half year uh and cycling uh when I come I start to work uh 7:00 and was finished uh 3 and then I was cycling home and then train uh maybe 3 hours and then I was sleeping uh 8:00 again 9:00 and then it was my sequist for two and a half year so uh then I have maybe not time to eat enough also but was active all the day yeah um so that took you up to your Junior years yes presumably at which point you start competing more internationally and finding your feat in the sport I maybe when I was uh my uh second years as a junior um I was uh a lot of a Nations cup uh and uh have some good wrestle Thoughts From Italy in guo De Luciana was top 10 and also the the world championship in fena I was also pretty good uh but I feel like then I was pretty skinny I was 58 kilo and um then I haven’t nothing to go on when I was going to sen because um I was like too skinny to build my FTP so the level was pretty good when I was Junior but when I was going over to Sor I have nothing to uh taking off if you can understand uh so that was some hard years for me to like feel I can be better because I was so skinny so I have like some years from I was uh Senor and I was uh second year I was lucky to come come to Uno X and was like okay Rider but I feel I can get my full potential so it was first in 2020 in the corona time I get a two years contract with the Uno X team and I found out if I will go going to tour the France or be a bettered Rider I have to do something and I also know uh my body is not build for being 60 kilo because I can produce a lot of muscles so from 2020 to 2021 I was going up 20 kilo from uh I was 58 into of La near in 2017 to be uh 7880 in uh the end of 202 so that was in a in a almost a 12 just over 12 month period yes but can you take me back to the few months leading up to that toal avener I mean I assume it wasn’t just one day where you thought I’m going to put 20 kilos on and change the type of ride it must have been something that you already were thinking about and having that 2-year contract signed allowed you the time and the space to change the type of Rider that you are yes because like from 7 2017 I was like okay Rider but I never know if I will get contract for next year it was difficult for me to like try to to gain weight because I know it will be a hard time afterwards and um and I also know I’m not buil for being 6 60 kilo uh so it was a difficult time but then I and in 2019 we also get very good help from James uh he was coming from inos and he was saying that I think maybe it’s smart what you are going to gain some weight and I get very good from him um I feel like it was a little bit harder the first years but I feel every year since 2020 I have build my FTP and getting stronger and stronger and stronger because my body have react very good every year on this weight uh so and also in I think it was no and the last to France I have uh the same skin full when I was 63 but getting uh like uh 50 60 more kilo on so I get gain a lot of muscles but not so much fat so yeah in terms of fat percentage you’re you’re lower now than you were a few years ago when you were a lot lighter I I’ve got a lot of questions still to go um firstly presumably it was with agreement from the team that you wanted to to transform yourself into a different type of Rider yes I think that and also for me because I have to I know uh to be to have to do something to to be another Rider because if I will stay on this same skin guy I will go going I have no time in the sport longer so I have to do something and then also the team uh helped me to do that it was like a a easy question to to do it what was the process of trying to put the right type of weight on so you know what was the plan and the process over that 12 month period i a plan most to just go up like four five six kilo okay but uh when I first start to eat because before I just uh my focus was like have six W per kilo uh when I was going up over then I know I can ride very fast but when you have like 360 350 360 in FTP uh you know we have to be around 60 kilo to to ride the fast up uphill in the head you have to go to 60 kilo and then it was not easy because you always have to eat less and you always was hungry all the time but when I was going up to 6 kilo it was like uh I feel uh my body will just have more food and was first I was going to 78 H uh I can eat what everything I want and the the the weight was stab when you say when you say everything you want prese good good food but more of it than you used to eat so then I feel like I was not hungry anymore and I can if I was eating some it was no problem to eat ice and uh maybe candy sometimes uh this the weight was pretty the same but before I was like uh when I eat cakes or something good I was always getting weight but now it’s like been very regular for the last uh four year three four years and uh and I don’t think about what they are eating so that’s pretty fascinated when I was skinny I always have to to focus what I was eating did the training change as you change from a climb a tight ride to more of a classic Sprinter type Rider you know what training did you do that was different on the bike and what training was different off the bike first off a bike uh when I start to eat I was growing six or 7 cm so was getting higher you’re you’re 6 or 7 cm taller now than you were when you started this process wow in my passport I 177 and now I 183 so that was I think my body was like going like a bear like in a what’s it called uh in know noran we call it te when it’s sleeping all winter oh how been 18 yeah in a lot of years and um before I also not was like interest interesting to get a girlfriend but when I was starting eating I get a lot of testosterone and get my girlfriend and it was very fascinated about the body react when you get food yeah so it’s very very special so how many times per week were you going to the gym during that period and did you have a cycling specific workout to do at the gym each time I think I was going less to the gy okay so that’s pretty and my muscle was like growing and growing oh just because I eat more so that so you were already doing gym work when you were a climber yeah and you did less when you started eating more and and changed your body type yes so I think my body have always maybe I can build a lot of muscles but when you don’t get enough energy you um you can’t build anything M uh so when I just start to eat and have some weight uh especially in Winter I have some weight training and then my muscle was growing a lot okay and then you’re you’re on the bike training did that change yes a lot um before uh I think like the training was pretty the same but uh before I was like my Peak was 900,000 Watts now it’s like 1,500 oh wow so 50% increase yes so that’s crazy just to eat more so so um and also my power also maybe before I was 340 350 now it’s like 430 in FTP so around there uh and also all from I remember when I start to to have 30 seconds I was like 650 was was very good for me now it’s like 1100 around there so it’s 1100 wats for 30 seconds yeah so that’s that’s crazy what you can do with eating more and get more of of your body if uh if that is good for you it’s something that uh uh are not build to have too much muscles but uh I also know because uh my um uh lactat level is very very high so I know like maybe uh to go for long longer climb is not the best for me but I was thinking before but now I can get up to 22 in lat is like maybe not the better to be a more Sprinter yeah yeah well it’s paying off for you you’ve taken your first pro win a month ago at a big classic in Belgium the bruss Cycling Classic but tell us how you felt as you progressed over those years you know how you felt on the bike in general but specifically in races because when you talk to us about those critical power values you know what you can sustain for an hour your FTP what you can sustain for 30 seconds how much power you’ve got when you sprint that must feel hugely different different when it comes to races specifically the northern Classics of Belgium yes I remember before I was like always the first one was uh getting off and it was crosswind and in Belgium is what not what was not racing for me because I have no no power it’s very diff different from from when I was young and skinny to uh to see uh what the what the different can be for a body uh and also uh um no I feel just um react a very good uh to to gen gen weight uh so I’m I’m very happy to to do that and uh also I think if I uh if I haven’t go up to waight I haven’t been a cyclist anymore I think yeah so so it’s very nice for me to like know what I was did that change and can win a race it kind of feels like a a win-win situation for you because well firstly you can eat more so you feel full more often you’ve clearly got more power you’re starting to win bike races at this point in your career but also as you point out it looks like you’re going to have a longer career because of the decision you made and also to climb is maybe easier for me now because when have more power it’s like much more easier to come to a to to the climb and then you have more power before I like Str struggling to come in position now I can just take a Sprint and be in the the front of a Pon before I was always in the end because this was not easy for me to to take a Sprint to come first in the sectors on on or in the first first CL so now I coming to climbs much more uh uh with more energy fresher than than before and also I’m more stab on training and races when I feel when I was skinny it was one day it was very good another day was very bad less consistent yes now it’s every day I feel pretty strong do you find that you get sick less than you used to yes that’s also before I was a lot of sick and some injuries sometimes but special also when you crash when you have some more muscal you you you recover better so now I feel I have yeah very good experience with uh to to gain weight is uh is easier and you can eat what you want and have the same weight before it was like after to think about the weight all the time so that’s was that’s very nice for me I just wanted to say a huge congratulations to you really because I certainly don’t know of any other Pro Rider past or present who has deliberately gained weight in the way that you have to change the type of ride that they are as you and I both know most Pros are obsessed with trying to to lose weight whilst maintaining their critical power values because that’s seen as the best thing to do but not just Pros I think our viewers at home many people watching this they get obsessed with cycling and they see themselves losing weight and they’re doing better on the bike and so I think you’re a real inspiration particularly to Keen cyclists that aren’t professional Rider to show them that actually maybe if you just concentrate on increasing your power even if you put weight on at the same time that could be a really good thing as a cyclist I wanted to ask you whether and I’m not going to ask you to name names here but do you ever look around the Pelon and people that you’re competing with and think to yourself if that Rider just put on a few kilos and change the type of Rider that they are they might get much better results as a pro yes I think so sometimes but I know also it’s very difficult to to do that because you never you know like you maybe have two three years that will be more difficult in the in the start because you can not just know taking of 10 kilo and think you are uh uh taking some time to build the FTP and the power before it cames so it’s not an easy choice but if you will be a better Rider on two three years I think it it’s uh it’s a very good experience with that I think like you said before most pro riders are constantly fighting for what are generally quite short-term contracts within the sport and so even if in their own heads they might think I’d like to change the type of Rider that I am they never have the time to afford them to actually go through with that I think it’s very important for for Young Riders to to think about it’s maybe better to to have a little bit more weight to not being too skinny because this is very important to build like the FTP when you’re young so you’re having something to to build on all the time because as me I start to come to the Senor to to be too skinny and then it’s very difficult to to taking more step every year because you have nothing to to build on yeah I think that’s something that’s particularly important definitely in my own mind you know it’s one thing to be a pro rider that’s in their early 20s so 22 or 24 and trying to be as lean as they possibly can being in the best climber they can be but I look at some Riders who are almost living a pro lifestyle at the age of 15 16 17 and I look at them and think I’m not sure it’s the best idea to already down 67% body fat at that sort of age anyway last question I wanted to ask you what does your daily intake of food look like during the tour to France yes we we get a very good plan from uh James um every day and uh to the morning I just eat maybe rice 200 g rice and uh 400 G porridge and uh maybe some bread 150 g Breads and omelet and that’s for breakfast so that’s a lot I like to eat uh a lot of breakfast uh and then you maybe eat something before a race a cake or something and on the race I also have very good experience to to fuel a lot and uh I try to fuel with u to uh two three Gs every hour in tour in the tour is like um a little bit warmer so maybe you drink more so we have to take a little bit less and also when you come to Finish Line we get uh we get uh some juice and haribu for recovery and Recovery shake and some pasta after after after finish to the dinner you also eat a lot of rice and pasta and and some meat to u to dinner so you you just think about to eat and uh race and sleep and uh then you’re getting uh hopefully good recovery for the next day yeah it’s a lot to eat over the course of three weeks isn’t it yes that’s true so I’m happy to have a good experience to eat the last years so that maybe helps me expert eater yes well thank you so much for your time uh just before the tour starts it’s very much appreciated thank you so much and we wish you the very best of luck I think there’s going to be a lot of people cheering you on and hoping for that stage win either for you or for the team Uno X so the best of luck thank you so much my thanks once again to yonas an incredible story I for one I’m going to be keeping a very close eye on his results not just at this tour to France but in the future Classics for the rest of his career because he’s really starting to thrive particularly in Belgian racing uh if you found it interesting we would massively appreciate giving us a thumbs up and sharing this with any mates that you think might be interested it’s a massive help to us here at gcn I’d also love to hear from you have you ever put weight on deliberately or otherwise and found that you’re performing way better on the bike if you have leave your comments in the comment section just down below thanks for watching I’ll see you soon