Originally Posted by
mkadam68
But I do think that some (many? not all, though more in cycling than realize it) can maximize their capabilities and approach their genetic limitations. As they approach these limitations, they've gone into "pro territory". I think an excellent & well-known example would be Pete Rose, someone who had to hustle and try their entire life. (Granted, cycling=/=baseball, but for illustrative purposes.)
I've never seen a study defying this or proving genetic exceptionalism is the only way. In subjective experience, I see it first-hand in the life of a local young Junior who has been training for 2+ years. He is making great strides in being competitive with local/regional pros in training and objectively has some very excellent data that compares favorably with international competition (he's thinking about trying a run for Rio 2016). He is coached by a former multiple-time world champion who concurs on this. When asked how this can be, the coach responds that the bodies of Gifted athletes do things automatically, whereas we non-gifted have to train our bodies & minds into habitual patterns. Yes, the Gifted have larger capacities, but of course do not always utilize it. In the end, there is room in the Pro Peloton for hard-working riders who have trained to be there. Perhaps they will never win, but only 1 out of 200 can. If clydesdale-me can keep up in a 30mph pro peloton or close down gaps to pro breakaways, or do a 3hr50min 100-miles with Olympian Kent Bostick, this 175-lb junior certainly can.
That said, I also said it could be over-come in the lower reaches of the pro peloton. I do agree that someone who does not have a certain genetic giftedness would ever win Le Tour (at least EPO-free).
You completely underestimate how good professional cyclists - even the domestiques who never win a race - really are. I'm what most people would regard as a strong rider, and it wouldn't matter how much I had trained, how determined I was, I could never have come close. I know a number of ex-pros. One of them, in his fifties, forty pounds overweight and with minimal training, regularly places in the Elite/Cat1 races round here just for fun. And thirty years ago, at his peak, he was barely good enough to get a contract with a pro team for a couple of years. The watts/kg these guys put out are at the top end of human potential, saying that ordinary athletes could train to that level is like saying that a 5'9" reasonably athletic woman could train herself into being a competent linebacker in the NFL.
Your local junior doesn't prove your case, if anything he disproves it. We have a similar kid in our club, he's just turned fifteen and has just won our national under-16 track sprint championships. He's only been riding two years, and he certainly doesn't train harder than some of our other kids. But he was winning races after about three months and was, from the first, astonishingly, exhilaratingly fast. He wins road races too, not just sprints.
The top guys/gals are simply a different breed of cat. The rest of us can fulfil our genetic potential, sure - but our ceilings are much, much lower than theirs.