Originally Posted by DrWJODonnell
The only way that a person with a lower wattage/kg will do better is if they have 1) higher raw wattage output, and 2) short climb (under 5 minutes) or low grade climb (less than 4% grade). But for a true climb, higher watts/kg wins every time (as long as you define watts/kg correctly - sustainable power output at threshold/kg of rider assuming similar bike weights (if different bike weights, they should be included in calculation as well).
That describes me exactly. Comparitively speaking I put out a lot of raw power, but because of my size, my threshold watts per kg is poor. So I can climb pretty well on short power climbs (even win the 2 minute climbs up the bridge sometimes), tt well on flat courses, but can only watch the climbers ride away on real hills.