Oh, I so want that to be true.
But given the history of cycle racing, you have to go "hmm" when a rider does the impossible.
Lemond. 1989 Tour; final time trial.
Many people forget that that 25-km (short) time trial was largely downhill, with a tailwind along much of the course. And, more importantly, that Lemond was using Scott aero bars (and was the first to use aero bars in the Tour).
For Lemond skeptics,
here's a pretty good refutation of the claim that Lemond had to have been using dope to win that time trial.
Thanks for your post, by the way. Without it, I might never have found that GCN video.