Interview Clara Koppenburg: "I want to show that I wasn't just good because I was thin"

Interview with Clara Koppenburg

TOUR: Clara, how important is success to you?

CLARA KOPPENBURG: It's important to me. Of course it gets you further in life, it gives you a certain standing in your environment. But being successful doesn't automatically mean you're much happier. I've realised that success isn't everything.

What drives you in cycling?

I am driven by my passion for cycling. That feeling of freedom when training for hours on end through beautiful landscapes. At the same time, I am driven by competition: challenging my body and mind and testing my limits. I want to organise races and win alone or as part of a team.

And what does it mean for you if you are not successful?

I haven't had any success at all in the last two years and have had to deal with that. I've found other things that make me happy. Basically, I'm a person who is very perfectionist and always wants to get the best out of things. Even when I was at school or studying, I always wanted to be the best. Now it's more important to me that I'm happy and can enjoy myself.

They posted on Instagram last August: You may have been flying up mountains on your bike in the past, but you admitted: "I wasn't healthy, I wasn't happy, I wasn't myself." It sounded as if you wanted to give the public a glimpse into your soul. What exactly did you want to tell the public?

It was cool that I had won races. But I also had the feeling that although others were happy for me, they were always thinking: She's only so good because she's so thin and not because she's a strong cyclist; is it really good for someone to win a race like that? I had these thoughts in my head.

You made your breakthrough as a professional cyclist as the best German at the 2018 World Championships and celebrated a clear victory at the Setmana Valenciana the following spring - when you flew away from your rivals on the uphill finish of the stage race. How big were the doubts really back then?

At the time, I thought I was definitely doing the right thing. But I soon realised that my family and social environment was suffering a lot because I was riding in such a single lane. Looking back, I can say that at the time I had lost a bit of myself as well as my life alongside cycling. And many people around me were very worried, especially because of my increasing underweight.

At 1.70 metres tall, they still weighed 46 to 47 kilograms. According to standard values, this is considered to be critically underweight and you should consult a doctor. How did it come about that you lost so much weight from your previous competition weight of around 53 kilograms?

It wasn't like a classic eating disorder where you vomit or really don't eat at all. For a normal person, I probably ate well - but not enough for my training programme. At the time, I exercised excessively. I did everything I could to get extra exercise. If I had a massage appointment ten kilometres away, I cycled there. I said to myself: you get an extra 20 kilometres - great! And especially during sport, during training, I ate far too little.

Was that intentional?

Unfortunately for me, training was a little escape where I cheated on myself. I was able to burn a lot of calories without anyone realising that I wasn't eating anything. I then knew that I had a deficit from training that I could manage at home.

Managing means what exactly?

I was able to show my parents at home that I eat normally. I live in the same street as my parents.

Have you received a diagnosis over time?

I wasn't given a proper diagnosis. Over the years, I made up my own. If you look at the pictures from back then, it's obvious. I can't say I was super healthy. I would call it a classic RED.

REDs is a well-known disease in competitive sport: athletes eat too little for their needs and lose weight - this can cause far-reaching damage to their health ...

Many people say that REDs is not automatically an eating disorder. But if you ate perfectly, you wouldn't have this RED. Nowadays, the teams clearly show us how much we need to eat. And if you don't, you end up in an energy deficit.

REDs: lots of training - little food

Young athletes with extremely thin bodies can be seen time and again - especially in sports where weight has a strong influence on performance and results. These include long-distance running, ski jumping, sport climbing and cycling competitions with long climbs. In science, this visible development has been given the technical term REDs (formerly spelt RED-S). It is the abbreviation for an English term: Relative energy deficiency in sport. Translated: Relative energy deficit in sport.

It is considered a complex syndrome. To put it very simply: Athletes take in too little energy in relation to their energy consumption, especially through intensive training. Put simply, they eat too little in view of their significantly increased needs. This causes the body to lose weight. This can lead to serious health risks due to a lack of nutrients, such as osteoporosis (low bone density) and hormonal imbalances. This can cause women to miss their periods and men to have erectile dysfunction. Other consequences can include depression and sleep disorders, as well as increased susceptibility to stress and infections.

When did you realise? You are on a path that is making you sick and broken?

It was a gradual process. But I realised from the start that it wasn't good for me. But the only thing that was important to me was being good at sport. I completely ignored everything else. I didn't care at all that I had lost my period. I thought I was an even better athlete now.

I realised that my family and social environment were suffering a lot because I was riding in such a single lane. I had lost my life alongside cycling. And my weight made a lot of people worried. - Clara Koppenburg

What made you think that a woman without a period is a particularly good athlete?

Word had got around among female cyclists: The really good ones don't have periods because their body fat is so low. They say it's a really good sign that you're in full training. I picked that up, made it fit in my head and then clung to it. I was fully aware that I was totally underweight, that it was dangerous to my health and that it didn't look nice. But I didn't really want to change anything about being underweight. That's the crux of the matter: if you're so successful with a diet like that, why should you change anything?

How did your family deal with it? Your father is a sports doctor, he looked after professional cycling teams such as RadioShack and Tudor for a long time.

I realised the extent of the problem relatively quickly because my parents intervened immediately. My dad had actually forbidden me to race in Valencia. He said: "You're too thin, you're not allowed to race now. That's dangerous!

Your reaction?

I begged him: "I've trained so hard for this. I've already skied the decisive mountain (Xorret de Cati; editor's note) in the training camp. This is my race!" He allowed me to do it after all. And after the race, I felt vindicated by the victory.

And how did your teams see it?

When I came back from the Tour of California in May 2019, where I came fourth, the team manager Claude Sun and the sports director Dirk Baldinger from my then team WNT-Rotor told me that I wasn't allowed to race any more races because of my weight, because I wasn't healthy and they were afraid that I would take a risk if I started ...

Actually a sensible step by your employer ...

I couldn't understand that at all at the time. I was really angry. I was thinking: How can they stop me now? I'm cycling so well right now, it's so much fun, I'm at the peak of my career. In hindsight, I'm really grateful to my team at the time. They did everything right in that respect.

You then put on weight to be allowed to race again. But your weight was critical for many years. It meant a massive lack of energy and nutrients. How can you achieve such endurance performances under these circumstances?

My body could cope well with very, very little energy. My stomach was also much smaller. Even the smallest amounts were enough to give my body a spark of energy again. That's how I got through the day. Today, I couldn't imagine not eating while cycling. I really don't know how I did it a few years ago, how I was able to ride so hard for so long with so little energy. I really believe that it was just an inner trick, that my head was simply much stronger than all the signals from my body.

How did you manage that during the race?

The race was about success, my athletic performance, I wanted to be really good. I knew that my body needed more energy. Even in the race, I ate far, far, far too little compared to others. But I ate a lot more than in training.

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You struggled with your weight, your health and yourself for years. How exactly did that go?

Whenever I was on the up a bit, I would fall into such an extreme hole again. I reacted extremely sensitively to stress. As soon as I was stressed or sad, I unintentionally lost a lot of weight again - two to three kilos within a week.

And then there were serious accidents in her family. Your mum was in a coma for a long time after a serious cycling accident in 2020 and needed time to recover.

Due to the whole stressful situation, my weight dropped to 43 kilos. Then nothing really worked anymore. I didn't know how to deal with the stress and sadness. I was in a depression. I went to a clinic for ten weeks in October 2020 to work through it all.

The therapy was only partially successful. Despite a stay at the clinic, you found yourself back in the saddle at races in the following years ...

This deficit problem lasted from the end of 2018 to 2022/2023, when I was always the same weight. I won the 2019 Tour of Valencia with 47 kilos. And that was always in my head: I'm at my best at this weight.

Their stubbornness had consequences. They crashed at the Giro d'Italia in 2021 and 2022, suffered a pelvic fracture twice - partly due to the low bone density caused by the lack of nutrition ...

I broke my pelvis twice in the space of a year - that did something to me. That's not a simple injury. It could have been the end of my cycling career. I realised more and more: I can't go on like this. I have to change something now.

I'm shocked at how I used to look and that I didn't think my appearance was so terrible. I didn't think of myself as beautiful, but as an athlete. - Clara Koppenburg

How do you look back on the photos of you at the time?

I'm a bit shocked at how I looked back then and that I didn't think it was so terrible myself. I never thought of myself as beautiful at the time. But I saw myself as an athlete. I really thought: this is what a top athlete should look like! You would cheer a man with such a figure and say: Wow, he's in great shape, you can see every vein in his legs. A woman is perceived differently. And I can understand that too. Women are not made to be so emaciated. They have a different physique and should have a higher body fat percentage.

It was a long struggle, an up and down. Why was now the right time to confide in the public? The public discussion about the visibly low weight of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, the winner of the last Tour de France, the opinion expressed by Demi Vollering - did that give you courage?

Yes, at that moment I just had the feeling that it was good that the top female riders were talking about it and everyone was giving each other their opinion. I thought it needed to be addressed.

What do you think when you see Pauline Ferrand-Prévot on the Tour winner's podium - much thinner than before?

I'm a bit ambivalent. I absolutely understand that it can be viewed critically because she is of course now very, very much at the limit with her body weight. But it's nowhere near as bad as it was for me back then. It's within limits for her, you get the feeling that she has it under control. She's been doing it for years with this yo-yo effect.

The discussion among female cyclists and in the media has centred on the question of whether this extreme weight management is absolutely necessary in order to be successful in cycling today and in the future. Especially on long mountains at the season highlight Tour de France ...

This message should not be spread - especially with regard to young female cyclists. In recent years, other female riders such as Demi Vollering and Lotte Kopecky have set a positive example with a strong body and a lot of strength. Incidentally, I believe that the problem in men's cycling is exactly the same. A few men in cycling have written to me saying that they have the same problems, that they are not doing well. But they don't talk about it as openly as the women.

Concealment is the problem?

I don't really understand why people should be ashamed of it. It's a disease. Why are people so afraid to talk about it? If someone breaks their leg, they get help and rehab is scheduled. There is a plan. REDs should not be swept under the carpet. But it shouldn't be pointed at anyone either.

How did you experience the reaction to your Insta post?

I was met with a wave of reactions. But it was positive because a lot of people really showed interest and wanted to talk to me - something I would never have expected. Many, many female cyclists and other athletes have written to me saying that they find it extremely important and that they are in similar situations. So even if I've only helped a few women or men, that's worth a lot to me.

Like when you came out, did you have a key moment that gave you the decisive push to eat healthily and gain weight?

The final push was missing for a long time. The main reason was actually that my dad had a very serious cycling accident in December 2023, when we were at a training camp with Team Tudor. At my bedside, he took my hand and said: Clara, do me a favour and just eat! He was afraid that it would take me down like my mum's accident did.

The accident had far-reaching consequences. Her father has been paralysed ever since ...

That was the biggest changing point for me, I would say. That's when it really clicked 100 per cent in my head. I no longer wanted to be the problem child of the family. All my strength and energy just had to flow into Dad. I said to myself: I just have to take action now and put on weight.

Are you afraid of a relapse?

Nope. That can't happen to me again, no way. But I'm just glad that I got out of the whole situation so lightly. It could have turned out worse in terms of broken bones. It could have been that I wouldn't have got my period back even if I'd been at a normal weight. I was afraid that I wouldn't have been able to start my own family. And I could have destroyed all my social and family contacts - many people turned away from me because they simply didn't know how to deal with me and my problem.

Is everything good if the weight is right?

When you have recovered from being underweight, not everything is flowery. On the contrary! You have real problems on the bike. I know many, many female cyclists who are back to a normal weight, but who suffer extremely from the after-effects of REDs and are simply no longer as efficient.

How did you experience this first-hand?

Two years ago, I rode for the top 15 in the Tour and was really looking forward to the mountain stages. This year I felt like I was fighting for the time limit every day. I suffered so much in the mountains! I suddenly felt like I was riding up these mountains with 16 water bottles on my back. It felt awful, like someone was pulling me back all the time. At the worst times, I had a body fat percentage of 4.8 per cent. I need to be at least 13 to 14 per cent to keep my hormones in balance. The goal now is to find the perfect balance between body weight and power.

Do you have a plan on how to regain your balance permanently?

I don't know exactly how to do this and unfortunately I don't have any help. My body needs to trust me again and should know that I am now providing it with constant energy. At the moment it thinks: I'm hoarding everything Clara gives me - bad times could come again.

Speaking of after-effects: You didn't get a new contract for the coming year. Even with the reference to your lack of results ...

I was told: "We're super proud of you, you're going the right way, keep it up! It just takes time, two to three years. But we don't have that time". I've also been told to give up cycling altogether. That was the moment when I said to myself: I have to show them that I can make it back.

I haven't finished cycling yet. I'm having too much fun. I want to show that I can make it back, that I wasn't just good because I was too skinny. - Clara Koppenburg

Top-class sport is a difficult field in this respect. It is all about performance, weaknesses are not envisaged.

Everyone should look at how we can help the riders affected. They shouldn't be penalised for making the right decision, namely to get well again. I would like someone to take us by the hand. I would need someone to tell me: we believe in you, we want to take this step with you and get you back to where you were.

Contract or no contract - will you continue in cycling?

I'm definitely not finished with cycling, I enjoy it too much and I love it too much. I want to prove to myself, but also to the whole cycling scene, that I wasn't just good because I was so thin and am now bad because I have too much on my ribs or am normal. It's because I'm a really good athlete, because I simply work hard for it, because I'm talented and mentally strong enough. And not because I'm playing with my weight.

About Clara Koppenburg

• Born: 3 August 1995 in Lörrach
• Nationality: German
• Size: 1.70 metres
• Place of residence: Lörrach
• Professional: since 2015

Teams

• Bigla / Cervélo Bigla (2015-2018)
• WNT rotor (2019)
• Équipe Paule Ka (2020)
• Rally (2021)
• Cofidis Women (2022-2023)
• EF-Oatly-Cannondale (2024)
• Cofidis (2025)

Important successes

• World Championship bronze medallist in the team time trial
• European Championship fourth U23 EZF
• Gracia Orlova 2017 junior ranking
• Stage and overall victory Setmana Valenciana
• Second Tour de l'Ardèche
• Fourth Tour of California 2019
• Second Setmana Valenciana 2020
• Second Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge
• Seventh Tour de Suisse 2022
• 15th Tour de France 2023
• World Cup participant 2018 and 2019

Clara Koppenburg came to cycling late in life. She played football as a child in her home town of Lörrach, then took up athletics before switching to road cycling after an injury around the time of her A-levels. During her studies in Constance (sports science), she joined the Seerose Friedrichshafen cycling club and trained there with Liane Lippert, who was three years her junior. In 2014, Koppenburg took part in her first high-calibre cycling races and received her first professional contract with Team Bigla the following season. She experienced her breakthrough in 2018, when she finished 18th as the best German on the very mountainous course of the Road World Championships in Innsbruck. Her most successful year followed when she switched to the German racing team WNT-Rotor, with two victories and many top placings, particularly in mountainous stage races.

However, it was obvious to observers that the young woman competed with an extremely emaciated body; her competition weight over several years was 46 to 47 kilograms at 1.70 metres tall. This means she was medically critically underweight. In personal crises, she was down to 43 kilograms. It took Koppenburg around four to five years to develop a healthy relationship with food and sport again. The 30-year-old made this public in a post on her Instagram account in mid-August and spoke about her fight against an illness she calls REDs syndrome (see box, page 74). Koppenburg has since regained a healthy weight, but does not have a contract with a professional team for the coming season. Koppenburg has a degree in sports science. His father Andreas Gösele-Koppenburg worked as a sports doctor for the Swiss Olympic team and several professional men's teams. He currently works for the Tudor Pro Cycling Team. Her sister Hannah, who is one year older, is a musician and plays concerts with Dave Stewart, known as a member of the Eurythmics.