Marco Pantani
Yeah, see my edit above. Figured it out before you responded.
The issue is more that VO2Max has a max. So if you take this as the limiter, then you will have more small people at higher Watt/Kg, than larger people. The question we are arguing over is what is the limiter? Watt/Kg, or some other physiological parameter that leads to more light riders having a higher watt/kg than heavier riders.
Evidence (call it empirical or anecdotal at your pleasure) says that watt/kg is not evenly distributed by kg, so there is some other physiological limiter that favors lighter riders.
So asking what happens if a lighter & heavier rider have the same watts/kg isn’t a useful question, and has a simple answer: the heavier rider is always faster, no matter the terrain.
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Yeah I agree that based on what has been shared in this thread, holding w/kg constant, the heavier rider always is faster regardless of gradient.
^ This is the burning question.
Obviously to reach these impressive w/kg for climbing durations, these athletes are trained at the highest levels.
Do you think it may be that they have realized it’s easier to purposefully lose body weight and power (tho relatively less power than weight so that w/kg increases overall) as opposed to gaining body weight (muscle mass) to gain power (with the percent power gain outpacing weight gain so that w/kg increases overall)?
This would be another theory to join the previous discussions of 1) bigger bodies requiring more fuel but on bike fueling being a limiter, and 2) vo2max being a limit (as you have shared).
We have a very few instances of larger riders (e.g., Bradley Wiggins) losing enough weight so that in specific circumstances they can be competitive on long climbs with naturally lighter riders. But these are the exceptions, and not the rules.