Back in the 1990s, Spaniard Miguel Indurain was the dominant road cyclist in the world, winning the Tour de France five times. My family made a vacation trip during that time, and I enjoyed watching some of the cycling on TV. I remember the announcer saying that Indurain had almost instant recovery, which impressed me greatly, being an old middle-distance runner.
His body took 7 liters of blood around his body per minute, compared with 5-6 liters for other cyclists and 3-4 liters for an ordinary person. His "maximal oxygen consumption" was 88 ml/kg/min, compared to 83.8 for Lance Armstrong and 92 for Greg LeMond. His resting heart rate was 28.
When he was 46, twelve years after he retired from competition, his absolute maximal and submaximal oxygen uptake and power output still compared favorably with an active competitive cyclist. He was an amazing physical specimen.
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