"In his first defense of the Mr. O title, Coleman exhibited size, condition and sinew-splitting fullness he lacked a year earlier. At 257 pounds, he was so separated that he looked like a walking anatomy chart. That being said, I still think he achieved his best-ever physique for the 2001 Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic."
The way I see it. According to Peter McGough, Ronnie's best show was 2001 AC. He said Ronnie's physique in that instance might be only challenged by Dorian's 93 offstage pics and video.
That being said I don't think he believes Ronnie's best Olympia physique was 98. He claims that Ronnies was drier in 98 but that in 99 was 1) bigger and 2) fuller and 3) more detailed (not because he was drier but because he was fuller and his muscles were popping out more, I think). I would add that in 99 his gyno was much less evident than in 98.
I believe that the ranking for Peter Mc Gough would be
1) 01 ASC
2) 99 O
3) 98 O
Now, that's Peter McGough personal preference (he's not talking of IFBB standards here) that is not necessarily representative of judges assessment that have to follow IFBB criteria.
I believe that Ronnie's more competitive physique would be 2003 Olympia, according to IFBB standards. The extra mass he had in that show was more than enough to compensate the slight worse conditioning he had compared to the three shows above. Dorian himself said that probably he would have lost to a more massive Ronnie (I think Dorian was referring to 2003 O. Ronnie).
In my opinion Ronnie's best physique was at 99 Olympia and 99 England Grand Prix. But that is my personal preference. According to IFBB standards his absolute best was 2003 Olympia (untouchable and unbeatable).