I still wonder whether the extreme altitude that a lot of the smaller riders from Columbia hail from has some kind of effect on their Gc longevity. Guys like Herrera and Parra were basically done as GC riders by 1990 when they were around 30 years old. We all know that Colombians didn’t really shine during the Clinical 1990s in Euro races, and Botero was Botero. Nairo is really the benchmark (Soler maybe could have if not for his horrible crash) as the first GC threat to emerge since the Golden Era.
Uran is the one exception as he is still a viable GC threat at his age but he is more built for GC opposed to the classic “beetle.”
At his age, Nairo shouldn’t be declining like this.