ACKTUSALLY, simply being taller (and the related size of your wingspan) is an advantage in a whole lot of sports. Better people than me have run the numbers on this and height almost always correlates in statistics. Being tall doesn't make you any better at a sport but all else being equal being taller is an advantage. "You can't teach height" being an old adage in basketball for example.
I don't know if bicycle racing is one of those sports, but badminton almost certainly is considering the size of the playfield and the height of the net. The video of Rhys stomping all over the court is a good example of this.
Height does not play such a big role in road cycling as far as physical performance goes. The general important factors are power to weight ratio, lung capacity, Vo2 max, how the body deals with lactic acid, and the mental strength required to just keep on through pain.
Other factors play a role depending on what cycle sport you are in like fast/slow twitch muscles, max power etc. In track sprinting the bigger the rider is good as bigger the muscles mean more power, BUT those muscles still have to get those pedals moving fast and keep it up. 200m sprint is all about short duration max power and nowt else and That same gold medal sprinter will not do that well on an average club run at 100miles. That is because he/she doesn't have to.
There are outlyers though like Kristina Vogel. She dominated womens sprinting before her tragic accident and she was pretty short. Same as some of the Russian and Ukrainian women.
I think taller riders, say 6 foot and some inches more have an aerodynamic advantage in road time trials and track pursuit as the proportions of the body allow for the best aero position. Amongst the men; Ganna is a perfect example of this.
Going uphill well can be done by different body types depending on the type of climb. Heavier powerful riders can do the short sharp hills really well, like in belgian classics, but most will start going backwards if it goes on too long. Then the lower weight riders that can still do big power, but for longer, take over. then if altitude starts playing a role the specialists take over.
All can be quite variable in height and on a big tour, in the mountains, you will see a little Colombian born at altitude mix it with a european born at sea level.
Basically; compared to basketball the height thing doesn't mean much at all in cycling. More of what is not visible on the outside is what makes the difference.
As i and others have said; if an average height man, without any compromising health conditions, trained properly for the 200m track sprint he would beat a below or above average height woman, who was equally well and had done the same training, more times than he would lose.
I dont know how many times out of 100 sprints but, being generous, probably 90%+ wins to by the man and the losing matches will be because of errors of judgement/mechanicals, than getting beat on power.
Rhys has lost his races through being terribly unfit, not very good at riding, and probably some sand bagging because he is a calculating peice of shit and even he would throw a race if it was in his interest to do so.
People who know they have an advantage, when it counts, can afford to under perform. There can be very good reasons for this, like saving yourself for the next event because it is more prestigious, but that is not underhand. That is just sensible.
eta: Just to add to the sperg that if you take a random man from the street, who is healthy, and train him up he may still get his arsed kicked more than he will win against a much shorter but gold medal woman. His bike skills may not be good enough and his muscles just wrong for the job and It is important to compare the existing men and women elite against each other.
The example above is about taking elite/pro level cyclists who are suitable candidates for the fantasy 100 sprint match off. One thing is for sure; even though there are exceptional women out there, who could beat alot of men, but never get found due to societal/ monetary/time conditions, there will always be a thosand times
more men who will be stronger and faster than that one woman. Fact.
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