Isn’t it the opposite? He is getting dropped bcs his watts/kg for the long climbs is not up to par…
only in Bizarro World.
Already in the 19th century found that were were many things correlated with m/h^2
That was just my intuition because as I said in physiology many different parameters are correlated with with h^2 and I posted an article that in weight lifters maximum strength seems to be correlated the cross sectional area of muscle which maximum is determined by height…
Yes, but I guess the point was that nevertheless MvdP > most pros with higher w/kg
What science do you base all this on?
For those still working things out, ignore everything that has to do with cycling for a minute.
This entire topic is Nature vs Nurture.
An AGE OLD topic.
If you want to be the best in the world you must maximize both.
If you want to be the best with respect to yourself, maximize nurture.
Why?
Nature is out of your control. I didn’t have you tell you that. You already knew that.
Nurture is more in your control. Of course, there can exist external and environmental factors that influence the quality of your nurture. But there is still lots you can do within your control. Unless you believe in predetermined destiny. A completely different topic.
If that is still not clear, let’s go through some very simple, generic permutations:
Bad Nature, Bad Nurture = Everything is bad.
Bad Nature, Great Nurture = Gold star participation award.
Good Nature, Bad Nurture = A squandered life.
Great Nature, Great Nurture = Domain professional.
Life is not fair. But enjoyment and happiness can still be found for everyone who seeks it. Maybe striving over a nice round number is what feeds into that enjoyment. For many this will come at a great cost. As mentioned earlier, the guys I see training +16hrs to hit 4.0wkg have made cycling a lifestyle. Everything else is a 2nd priority. Everything.
Cycling is a wonderful sport but it can truly take so much.
Go all in and MAYBE you can be rewarded by what you seek. But this sacrifice can make you really, really weird. Esp in the public eyes. Be careful what you wish for.
mmm. I guess, but for the “>” to be valid, a few caveats:
- For one day races
- For relatively flat races.
Honestly it sounds like you mostly agree…
No one would suggest that genetics are immaterial at the elite level. I’m just tired of hearing all the people claiming that you’re born into the world tour and just sit around eating bonbons until the contract shows up.
I have no illusions that I’m one good training season away from Cav. It’s just interesting how many people are willing to put time and effort into training only to go onto a forum after and sandbag about how their genetics aren’t good and that’s why they are what they are. Sure - we could all have better genetics… but no one can change it so focus on what you can control
Nobody has said that … other than you.
I also don’t see anyone personally blaming genetics for their performance in this topic.
Who said anything like that? You said that you’ll never be Cav. Do we take that as your sandbagging?
My point is that he is arguably one of the greatest cyclists ever. He will never win the Tour de France or Giro because it is a watts per kg race. But he can be cyclocross world champ and win races like Flanders.
well he’s still at 6.5 w/kg. Just at a higher weight than any of the GC riders. Hence he’s suffering more once climbs hit give or take 6%.
He’s most definitely not 6.5 w/kg for > 20min
6.5W/kg as an FTP is GC contender level for sure…
MvdP is not a GC contender…
This has also been argued a different way: at young ages, a small difference in age makes a big difference in ability. So within a given age group, the kids born earlier in the year tend to outperform the kids born later in the year. The earlier-born kids perceive themselves as “good at that sport” and enjoy it, so they stick with it and train … etc. The upshot was a statistic that found a disproportionate number of elite professional soccer players were born in January/February.
Through that lens: being good at anything takes hard work, and you’re most likely to work hard at things you enjoy (and, perhaps, we enjoy what we feel we’re competent at).
See: The influence of relative age on success and dropout in male soccer players - PubMed
He is definitely not 6,5 w/kg.
Most estimates of his FTP that I have seen (based on his uploaded files containing watt numbers) pegs him around 420 watt. His weight around 75 kg.
He is a freak of nature with his high FTP and extreme explosiveness. But not a sustained climber. He is way too heavy for that.
I guess we’re drifting some way off topic here, but I think the main reason MvdP won’t win a grand tour isn’t because of physiological constraints but because he wouldn’t want to adjust his training and the way he races (because being a GC rider can be quite dull in many ways). His build and current weight isn’t far off from where Wiggins & Thomas were in track days before they slimmed down to be GC contenders.
I think the main reason he won’t get even skinnier is because he can’t. He’s already appears to be at a very low percentage of body weight.
Wiggins had medical assistance in his day to get unnaturally skinny.
I wonder if his all day pace is over 4 w/kg 
I may have been wrong about the MvdP 6.5 w/kg, but look at him climb right now.
Still don’t believe he is 6,5 w/kg - but I might need to change my wording a bit
#impressive #beast