Just curious here: WVA is heavier but climbs better. This implies both higher w/kg at threshold but also higher absolute threshold watts since his kg is higher. He probably also TTs better, so better w/m2 in TT setup.
Yet, after a hard race such as Roubaix or Ronde, MVDP is no slouch holding a sustained effort on the flats or rolling hills, sometimes dropping WVA.
What's the driver here? I don't think mentality or killer instinct explains anything here. Some guesses:
- paradoxically WVA's kryptonite is fatigue resistance and repeatability after frequent dips into the redzone. He has himself framed it as a sugar burning problem which leaves him flat late in races, in inscyd propaganda videos. But wouldn't that be solved by simply slamming 100-120g / h of carbs into his system? (I think the inscyd metabolic model has things backwards, but that's another discussion).
Then there's the way he rides in races, ie impersonates the knuckleheaded macho if there ever was one, so I would not discount the possibility that he is constantly slightly overreached / not fresh, and cannot thus access the extra gear during important moments.
- MVDP's fibre distribution is more fast twitch, which explains the lower threshold and/or sustained climbing ability. However this also means he has extra anaerobic capacity that allows him to go less deep during the classics hills relative to competitors, and thus allows him to recover just as well as more aerobic competitors. And of course it means he has the Kick as the ultimate race winning weapon, too.
- MVDP simply has a higher vo2max but lower fractional utilisation (threshold) and WVA vice versa?