Any lover of modern cycling will attest to the prevalence of science and data in all discussions of the sport, with frequent mention of wattage, power-to-weight ratio, lactate threshold, VO2Max and other measurements now within the common vernacular. It was not always so, however. Roll back to pre-2008 and there was still very little understanding of what made a great cyclist, just a certain set of values known collectively as "the knowledge" where the climbing and time-trialling deities were seen as just that, talismanic beings with an unknown quantity...