I don't understand this

When they interview the swimmers after the 100m fly event they seem pretty beat up... panting and huffing and trying to put a fake smile. Looks human enough.

Levi after the last mountain stage looked human, he was still out of breath, but not panting and drooling like i would have been.

Pendejo said:

How can world-class endurance athletes, such as runners and cyclists, hit the finish line after X minutes, or hours, of all-out effort and then ten seconds later they can do an interview? When I hit the finish line I can't talk to anybody for minutes. It just seems to me that when an athlete of any caliber puts everything out there, he or she is going to be blown out at the end and take a little while to get back together. But it doesn't seem to work that way. Was it Lemond or Lance who said, "It doesn't get any easier - you just go faster"? Well, if they're suffering as much as I am during the race, why aren't they hurting as bad when it ends?

I garuntee they are hurting..just better at coping/recovery

I believe they recover faster than the rest of us, that's part of why they are extra special - it's one reason they're elite. The other reason is that some riders will train at longer distances than what they actually ride so although they have given all out for a great distance they still haven't hit their maximum endurance threshold.