Even with this high VO2max value, the difference is on all sub-maximum performance parameters, or simply put, his superb ability to maintain this high race pace for longer. And of course, in road cycling you should never underestimate the role of the rest of the team -perhaps Amos can comment on this.
Also, keep in mind that VO2max alone can’t make a difference in such a rather homogeneous group of people -i.e., assuming that all these athletes have pretty high VO2max values- and secondly that his specialisation on his event is so high that higher values on a treadmill, for example, are not certain (e.g., XC skiers are said to have the highest values, while measured on their sport, but not in other measurements for other reasons, too, such as maximum muscle mass involvement in XC).
Edit: there is a very good review on cycling performance parameters (at the second part) by Coyle (1990, Sport and Exe Sci Rev ?).