Big Doopie
BANNED
it is very clear that he is a major responder to altitude training. perhaps at the very high end of the spectrum in terms of pro cyclists.I always find it so weird how big the difference between his top- and “I just started racing again”-form is. The people that dropped him…
seems to be the case based on observation and it is not until he does these that he gets the ability to accelerate and then accelerate again, and again (as seen at SS, LBL and WCs).
also things need to go right, no crashes, no covid. no 10 days off the bike. otherwise his climbing in particular becomes "ordinary".
i would have loved us to see him at the vuelta last year without his crash. i think the two stages where he showed that "ordinary" climbing may have been quite different.
having said that, i 100% agree that last year's Vuelta was particularly weak in providing any multi-climbs to altitude tests, and that remains for sure a real question.
(above is bolded, simply to emphasize that i am not blind!)