As Hamish correctly points out..the big gears make muscle soreness/fatigue..not lactate...

No one should be training/racing at 70rpm. To gain strength its 40-60rpm... I laugh at the guys that train in the big ring and sit at 30kph..what a waste of time.. you gain nothing from this at all.. Hendy does high cadence work, low cadence strength, race cadence tempo work... none of this grinding each ride nonsense..

The higher cadence you can train at, the more likely you are to be able to handle fast races..because if you are limited to 80rpm..you will run out of gears real quick and not be able to push them...

Ullrich was a big gear beast..but he still pedalled quickishly in TTs..just not as quick as Armstrong.

When I was working with Sarah Ulmer we looked at optimum cadence range for her Pursuit, and whilst we trained non specific ranges to reach a desired outcome..we tried to work on a set specific range in competition and geared her accordingly.

I have really enjoyed reading all the responses in here and have learnt a lot. Thanks for helping me (and others no doubt) to understand.