Of course, a high VO2 max value is a huge advantage in endurance sports, but it's not the sole, absolute factor in determining if a cyclist can win the Tour de France.
To use a more vivid analogy, a Road Cyclist with a high VO2 max is like a large-displacement, high-power F1 race car.
It can maintain high speeds for an hour or two, but it can't compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race.
Just like race cars, for a Road Cyclist to maintain power output over a long time, you also have to consider their athletic economy. This is where the lactate/ventilatory threshold comes in.
The closer a cyclist's lactate threshold is to their VO2 max, the higher their athletic economy (Economy = Threshold / VO2 max).
Huang Chong's lactate threshold (Zone 4 peak) was a high 192. Combined with his world-record-level VO2 max, the system had effectively turned him into the world's most terrifying endurance monster.
