Sibling Genetics and Sporting Performance (Nairo Quintana's little bro)

[MattTuck]

I just read that Nairo Quintana has a brother, Dayer Quintana (http://velonews.competitor.com/2016/01/news/393772_393772) and he is racing bikes and getting on podiums.

The Yates brothers, the Schleck brothers...

Inter-generational cycling families too, Phinney and Merckx for example.

Nature vs. nurture?

[Black Dog]

I just read that Nairo Quintana has a brother, Dayer Quintana (http://velonews.competitor.com/2016/01/news/393772_393772) and he is racing bikes and getting on podiums.

The Yates brothers, the Schleck brothers...

Inter-generational cycling families too, Phinney and Merckx for example.

Nature vs. nurture?

Don't forget the Jalabert brothers.

Nurture only leads you to your natural potential. After that, if you are not good enough, you will need dope to overcome genetic limitations.

[carpediemracing]

Always nature, always.

I'm not talented aerobically but I was given a decent jump. As a young'un it was really good, now it's about average.

People ask how I train for sprints. I don't. I JRA. I ride 120w avg for an hour. 150w maybe. 170w for a really hard ride. I tried all sorts of stuff to improve my jump (lifting etc) but the thing that improved my jump the most was losing weight overall. It had nothing to do with my power, which stayed at about the same peak/sprint levels, just how much mass I had to move.

My first real teammate (my boss at the bike shop) had a better jump than me. He could time trial and climb better than me. In my 5th? race I led him out to a win. I can't believe that someone had a picture of it but that's me, leading out my teammate. We're catching 2 riders that went early. (New Britain, clockwise, at the big bend which is now Turn 1).

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtf1/v/t1.0-9/10891766_757149264369980_8289082600554035588_n.jpg ?oh=ca529f200f664d3e0f9355287f5ed807&oe=57338B55

He took 10 years off the bike. We met up on one of his first times back on the bike. He looked noticeably heavier, he was dying even more than me on the hills (normally he outclimbs me handily), etc. Then, at a beach area, while we were soft pedaling maybe a 53x19, he motioned to a garbage can, it was maybe 100 meters away.

"Race to the can?"

I nodded.

"Go!"

I jumped as hard as I could. He immediately took 2 lengths on me. It was just like old times. If my life had depended on out jumping him I'd be dead. Just no question. He had a better jump, period.

Until his lack of fitness caught up to him. I passed him just before the can, but it took a massive effort on my part.

Jumps are neat in that it doesn't require any fitness per se. I could be off the bike for months and I'd still have a decent jump. FTP is highly reliant on conditioning, of course, but genetics are genetics. It sucks but it's what it is.

There's an element of nuture, of course. If an aerobically talented person gets on a bike because of their sibling or dad or something, great. That same person might never get on a bike or do anything athletic because their family may emphasize something else.

Around here the most famous (to me) were the McCormack brothers, Mark and Frank, who have won some of the biggest US races between them. George Hincapie has a brother Richard who often lapped the field with George - the two of them in their jail cell Atala kits, raising their hands in tandem, that was a familiar sight. Brothers Alan and Paul McCormack (not related to Mark and Frank) were iconic in the US scene in the late 80s and early 90s. The entire Keough family now, doing cross and road stuff in the New England area.

[rustychisel]

Nice story and well answered. People ask me about leg speed and 'jump' into a sprint, too.

I dunno. You just do.

[nooneline]

The surest route to being a good endurance athlete is to pick good parents.

I've known some people who have ground their way up to the top of the sport (well, for amateurs) - working hard, harder, and even harder, eking out every next gain...

...and I've known people who have just rocketed up through the ranks. Cat 1 halfway through their second season racing bikes. Who dick around, barely train, and can still race pro-am races.

Obviously, to be good, one probably needs to be committed, hard-working, and smart; but that all rests on a platform of genetics - since not everybody who is committed, hard-working, and smart can be a top-tier athlete. What can the body accomplish?

It's hard to talk about genetics in cycling right now without talking about Mathieu Van Der Poel - his father Adri also won a World Champ in CX, a bunch of classics and TDF stages. Oh, and Mathieu's grandfather is some dude named Poulidor...

[soulspinner]

For whatever reason my little brother could kick my arse on a bicycle. I played tennis, table tennis, handball, squash and cycled a lot. He could not beat me at any other sport. At 5-9 he only weighed 135 pounds but could bench more than I at 160 and could suck up oxygen like a hoover. Genetics? Same parents but he got the best of it aerobically. Spent an awful lot of days trying to reel him in.

[ultraman6970]

You can improve a lot training but a naturally good guy will improve almost with no training. There is a point where you have to admit the other guy is simply better than you.

[MattTuck]

I think Andy Hampsten has a brother, not sure what became of him. ;)

But more on the topic of the Quintana brothers, pretty amazing that two talents emerged from a village in Colombia's mountains. It's like finding a Cuban pitching prospect. Gives me a positive vibe that someone with talent and access to a bike is able to make it to the top levels of the sport from a pretty impoverished area. I'm sure there are others like him that didn't make it, but it says something that he was even able to.

[Black Dog]

I think Andy Hampsten has a brother, not sure what became of him. ;)

But more on the topic of the Quintana brothers, pretty amazing that two talents emerged from a village in Colombia's mountains. It's like finding a Cuban pitching prospect. Gives me a positive vibe that someone with talent and access to a bike is able to make it to the top levels of the sport from a pretty impoverished area. I'm sure there are others like him that didn't make it, but it says something that he was even able to.

Columbia has a strong cycling culture, that helps a lot.

[ultraman6970]

A comment aside, besides all good a rider can be, if the guy is never given the chance we as spectators wont know ever how good a guy can be.

Never liked the schlecks, never saw anything super in them (not bad riders) but you have to take in consideration that whole teams raced for them, specially for Andy. In low leagues teams basically sell the best they have, or the one that is next in line (just like in soccer), do you guys remember the scandal years ago about italian riders paying to be included in a squadra? is sick right?

Well, got a couple of friends in neo pro teams in europe plus another one that died racing for a belgian pro team (doping killed him) and all of them told me the cruel reality, if you are not the guy that must win that day eventhought you are better than the star of the team you are destined to pay your dues and wait in line, if the guys dont like you even worse, thats how riders end their careers like domestiques with mediocre wins.

Who knows how many riders are around that just left the sport and we wont never know how good they were, ever.

[echappist]

The surest route to being a good endurance athlete is to pick good parents.


not sure if this is just old wives tale or actually holds merit, but some (e.g. Vaughters) would say that insofar as aerobic sports are concerned, it's the mother' genetic potential that matters more. The rate limiting step of aerobic (viz. oxidative) extraction of energy has always been and probably always will be in the mitochondrion, and it's the backup there that leads to lactate build up. The genetic material of mitochondrion is apparently solely passed down from the mother, which would imply that maternal genetics would matter more in a sport such as road cycling. Not sure if this is just a canard or holds actual truth; perhaps our resident physiology expert @Joachim could chime in on this.