I’ve had a theory on the whole ‘why can’t wout (or insert superb classics ride) win the tdf’ argument for a while.
It’s not about wkg. Winning ventoux and dropping pogacar are examples showing that the absolute and relative watts are there.
The theory is this: it’s about energy expenditure. Simply put, wout can’t eat enough over a 21 day race to stay competitive every day whereas a light GC can, or at least can do better.
Eg jonas averages 5wk for a stage and wout 5wkg, but Jonas pushing 300w and wout 400w. Wout might go faster on average, but he can’t do this stage after stage because 400w burns enormous amounts more cals than 300w and the human body can only take in so much fuel.