Age Ranges of Multiple Tours de France Winners

[Kenneth Litwak]

Of racers that I've seen win several Tours de France, most have been around 30 years old. None of them were previously 21,22, and 23 (we know Pogrcar is going to win). This empirical fact has always made me question what Pogacar is doing/taking to be so dominant at such a young age compared to anyone else. Ever since Pogacar beat Roglic massively in his first TdF, I"ve had doubts that Tadej is relying upon natural ability only. My impression is that young pros have to spend several years to build up to where they win a grand tour. What do you think?

[Steven Bornfeld]

Post by Kenneth Litwak
Of racers that I've seen win several Tours de France, most have been around 30 years old. None of them were previously 21,22, and 23 (we know Pogrcar is going to win). This empirical fact has always made me question what Pogacar is doing/taking to be so dominant at such a young age compared to anyone else. Ever since Pogacar beat Roglic massively in his first TdF, I"ve had doubts that Tadej is relying upon natural ability only. My impression is that young pros have to spend several years to build up to where they win a grand tour. What do you think?

Well yeah, if you consider a margin of 59 seconds to be winning
"massively" (I don't). Pogacar has the advantage of being an excellent
bike handler, which Roglic demonstrably is not.
In the past there were a lot of theories about when a rider is ready for
grand tours, but the evidence base for that is skimpy at best. They
have also done away with gear restrictions for juniors right here in the
U.S.
It is true that in endurance sports maturity tends to come later than
for power sports, but there has to be plenty of individual variation.