Originally Posted by
mattm
All I know is that bike racing is (mostly) an art, not a science.
Absolutely.
But if you have the science, too, you can make some wondrous works of art.
I was looking at Egan Bernal's strava the other day. Two or so years ago, before he became world famous, he did 7.3 w/kg for 18 minutes to win a race in Colombia.
7.3 w/kg. After four hours of racing already. At altitude. Oh my god. That's genuinely something I can't do for even three minutes. I don't even know how to comprehend that.