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some XC racers have managed to transition to road riding quite successfully
Cadel Evans was more than quite successful.
In todays case, yes. A rider just in front of me rode into a traffic cone and fell off. He, his bike and said cone were then presented to me and I had to bunny hop the cone. I still hit it hard enough with my front wheel to create a wee buckle and had to ride the last 10 miles or so with a wee bit of wheel rub (and shaky legs).
Yes as has already been said though he had to do a lot of work over a period of years to make the necessary transformation to his physiology to go from an XC racer to a Grand Tour contender. Probably easier for XC racers to be competitive in one day classics than the big stage races.
Though I think the OPs question is more about your average rider than elite racers.
Cadel was very close to winning the giro in his 1st or 2nd pro season.
His lack of success at t mobile was probably due to team politics more than anything else.
I do wonder whether modern xc racers will ever be GC guys though. xc races are shorter now and short laps don't have such sustained climbing. Maybe xc racers are closer to classics contenders these days.
All the roadies I know carry about 4% body fat max and have calves like a bag o spuds. The people I MTB with are fit but not as fit but they are just as dedicated, it's just a different scene, with different expectations. MTBing for me is the whole experience, the day, scenery, weather, banter food etc. If you're touring on the roads it's like this but the Lycra mob ain't like this. Suppose it's the same for the Lycra XC folks. But with MTB Lycra isnt as prominent and with roadies it dominates.
Cadel Evans was more than quite successful
I am aware of Mr Evans' palmares, I was being a little arch in response to the (frankly laughable) quote, and specifically chose Peraud because of the follow-up points I wanted to make about the level of training.
sorry for putting a bit of thought into it!
MTBing for me is the whole experience, the day, scenery, weather, banter food etc
I think this is the case for many. Road riding for me is all about sustained effort (I don't even do cafe stops) whereas MTB is ride a section, stop, banter, repeat. In fact at Leith Hill last weekend it was climb-latte-descend-climb-latte-descend... 🙂
I do wonder whether modern xc racers will ever be GC guys though. xc races are shorter now and short laps don't have such sustained climbing. Maybe xc racers are closer to classics contenders these days.
You can change your fitness. Bradley Wiggins started off with short rides on the track but then successfully switched to some nice French Scenery, Weather, Banter - He used to ride round on a tour for three weeks with mates in a van. Looked like a laugh.
MTBing for me is the whole experience, the day, scenery, weather, banter food etc
There is plenty of this in bunch racing and other forms of road racing and riding I've done (with the exception of hill climbing where no one eats).