There's also plenty of riders who are world class over one week but simply don't have the endurance for a three week race to still be competitive throughout if they could make it to the end, or if they can it tends to be below the level they can show when recovery is less of a factor. There's no shame in that at all. Iban Mayo is a good example, as is Richie Porte, who took until well into his 30s to produce a genuine Grand Tour GC result (no, 2010 doesn't really count because of the time gift and even if he'd have still been 10th without it, he'd still have been 13 minutes further adrift, which might be a good placement but isn't really competitive in terms of winning) but was one of the best in the world over a one week race. Simon Špilak barely even bothered with three week races. Then there's others for whom recovery is in fact their greatest asset; Steven Kruijswijk was not that spectacular an espoir, largely because the stage races weren't long enough for his excellent recovery abilities to come to the fore and become the kind of advantage they are in the three week races.