Mish_C said:
Okay, I'll do my best to spell it out for you.
All the controversy about Chris' VO2 max came about because Fred Grappe estimated that Chris' VO2 max had to be between 85 - 90.
http://www.fredericgrappe.com/?p=1322
Michel Theze has estimated that Chris' VO2max is above 85 based on his testing with Chris in 2007 at a heavier weight, while he was staying at the UCI centre in Aigle. Michel Theze has been talking about it for the last two years. Clearly those who wanted to find out what Chris' VO2 max is, haven't looked hard enough. Here is yet another article that includes those current estimations.
http://rue89.nouvelobs.com/rue89-sport/2013/07/21/remporte-tour-france-chris-froome-lanomalie-244390
So I'm failing to see what exactly people are struggling with?!?!
You're so determined to believe that Chris is doping that you will constantly disregard the facts.
Thank you for this information.
The first link you provided does give Grappe's estimate of 85-90. He doesn't say, though, exactly how he made this estimate, and it doesn't help that he says, " A ce jour, vu la nature de ses performances, rien n’indique qu’elles puissent être réalisées avec une VO2max supérieure à 90 ml/min/kg." I think what he means to say is nothing indicates that it is
necessary for his V02max to be over 90". Of course his performances
could be performed by someone with a V02max over 90. This is just careless writing.
I can accept that 85-90 is possible, because based on Alex's power curves, which he posted upthread, CF's times could be consistent with this value if he has a high efficiency and high lactate threshold. As I said before, though, unless we know those values, we can't be sure what V02max is indicated. Grappe refers to these parameters at the end, but doesn't do a good job IMO of emphasizing how critical they are. He says they may vary by "a few percent" from one athlete to another, when in fact they may vary considerably more.
Also, Grappe does not explain why, if CF's V02max is so high, this was not in evidence before 2011. The other link you posted does not in fact list any value. It just repeats the by now well known story of how CF was an unappreciated talent, and why he could have performed at a relatively mediocre level despite having the talent to dominate the peloton,and so on and so on. As discussed upthread, CF's TT times indicate an increase in FTP of about 15% from pre- to post-2011.
Your claim, I think, is that measurements made in 2007 were indicative of an absolute V02max that would have supported a V02max of 85-90 if CF had not been a little heavy (though again, the link you supplied says nothing of this at all). But since TT prowess depends on power/surface area, rather than power/weight, if CF really had this high an absolute V02max, he should have been much better TTer. A little extra weight would not make a difference of 15%. In fact, if the 5 kg. loss mentioned in some link here earlier is correct, it would increase TT speed only about 4%, and even power/weight would of course increase only about that 7%. So loss of weight alone can't account for his increased performance in either climbing or TTng, let alone an increase that occurred almost literally overnight in the summer of 2011.
Your contribution here is helpful, but I hope to see more.