Originally Posted by
AlgarveCycling
That's the thing, it isn't nearly as unusual as you might think, I see smaller riders performing to the opposite of what is trying to be taken as granted in this thread and vice versa. It's more down to pure genetics than something like bike fit and even training. It simply is not the case that larger riders will always be better than smaller riders on the flat and vice versa.
"All else being equal" is the part that half the people in this thread are missing.
People don't gain watts for every extra lb they weigh, and there are obviously huge variations in power and endurance for different riders at any weight. There's a reason why the heaviest riders in the world tour are still only ~75Kg. None of this scales indefinitely either, and there are hard limits on how much oxygen and food anyone can process no matter how big they are.