I think what happened was a mis-communication when the pros of the past laid down advice.

They said: "ride lots, build base, sharpen up during feb/mar, race during the spring/summer".
What was interpreted: "ride easy, build base, catch up in feb/mar, race during spring/summer".

If you think about it - their advice is quite similar to that of what's being done now with PM peeps:

1/ People with PMs ride base at moderate intesities - which I think was supposed to happen. Maybe it got convoluted/mis-interpreted as ride in 39x25. Maybe people forgot the euro pros were riding 39x25 on a 15% grade...

2/ The sharpening period is similar - PM peeps do a conditioning period of L4/L5/L6 similar to that of early season races pros used to do as preparation for the real stuff later in the year.

3/ Race results: PM peeps perform better than others. Why?
Maybe because of their base composition. SST vs. L1/L2.
Maybe because of their conditioning composition. L4/L5/L6 vs. conditioning without the shampoo.
Maybe because of genetic prowress - who knows.

The old guys were right - maybe we just heard them wrong...