2011 Tour of Utah 2.1 August 9-14

[BillytheKid]

Henao and Co. made a good race. He put in some good attacks on the last climb, but just didn't have legs to keep it going.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Nice gift from Levi, a bit boring but whatever. Deserved win anyway.

Looking forward to seeing Henao star in a grand tour riding for Sky next year, maybe even the Tour with Wiggins focusing on the olympics.

Vuelta in support of Rigo, unless he starts destroying people in early season.

2nd year will be very interesting though.

 

[benpounder]

LL looks good enough to attack, but he won't

He's been challenged by the Colombian/Spanish contingent all week, but still he cedes the stage to Henao - certainly not a tactics favored by Merckx or Hinualt - as most gracious winners would do.

What is good for us fans is not necessarily good for those actually competing.

 

[benpounder]

those fans are bloody idiots

Yeah...

So much more uncouth than the spectators at the Tour, or Vuelta, or Giro, or Liege, or RVV, or San Sebastian, or...

 

[Nielsa]

Lol, is this Brajkovic's genuine twitter account?

http://twitter.com/#!/janibrajkovic

janibrajkovic
Who's gonna pull u now up the climb wheelsuckers ?
11 minutes ago

 

[Damiano Machiavelli]

Undeserved? He is 27 seconds above the guy that tried several times to drop him - and matched every attack. and Gobernacion clearly had a stronger team.

I understand why so many here dislike Levi, it is the loathing that I cant fathom.

Go to the Clinic and find out. Levi is a scumbag.

It is really sad that a great race like this is soiled by the likes of him.

 

[benpounder]

Can't wait to see the Uran-Henao combo at Sky. Actually I think Henao might be more talented than Uran but it remains to be seen.

It will be interesting whether or not Sky gives him the teams he needs(?). Personally, I can't see such an anglo-centric team supporting Henao over Wiggens.

 

[xmoonx]

a great race. it wasn't perfect for me but levi deserved the overall win.brajkovic seems a good bet for la vuelta,he was very strong.i'm a little dissapointed about babyface but maybe he will take his revenge in colorado....thank you gobernacion for some epicness.
tour of utah 2011 was one of the best races of the season for me.

+1
Great race indeed, rooted for Paco or El Nino. Kudos to Levi for a strong performance and deserved win. Henao, wow! just freaking wow.

 

[Escarabajo]

I missed the race today.

Did we see Tourmalet 2010 all over again??

I can't believe that Henao could not drop Levi on the last climb. Levi really looked vulnerable yesterday. Maybe Henao needs to gain more experience or just plain more kilometers.

I can not believe that start list in Colorado. I hope broadcast is a liitle better. I should not complain because at least we got a free live broadcast. You don't always get that.

 

[Damiano Machiavelli]

The route for Colorado looks pretty sucky compared to Utah, but the Altitude might do some serious damage.

Evans should be getting some good acclimitization in and shaking off the past few days of jet lag.

Tommy D looking good.

 

[Mambo95]

It will be interesting whether or not Sky gives him the teams he needs(?). Personally, I can't see such an anglo-centric team supporting Henao over Wiggens.

Don't get carried away. Henao is 23 and has barely raced outside the Americas. His first season should be about settling in and gaining experience, nothing more. He certainly shouldn't be getting preference over Wiggins until he's proven himself on a bigger stage.

 

[benpounder]

Colorado might have a hard time topping this. It's been a very good race!

It will be as interesting for us cycling nuts, however not nearly as compelling due to the lack of the quintessential determinative MTF.

 

[benpounder]

Go to the Clinic and find out. Levi is a scumbag.

It is really sad that a great race like this is soiled by the likes of him.

If I were having such a conversation in person and the other said what you just said, I would walk away. Meaningful conversations do not occur when one expresses such vitriol.

Granted, this is an internet forum where ones anonymity offers them an protective blanket to say... unfortunate things. I have been to your Clinic. And I find it lacking. The few informative posts are offset by the overwhelmingly nasty conjectures that seemingly originate because someone's favored rider was beaten by ones hated rider. Doping has existed in the Pro (and amateur) peloton for years; to pretend that it only exists outside of your favored riders is naive at best.

(stepping quickly back outside what I find the putrid realm of the Clinic...)

...Levi won today because he was able to use his strengths and mitigate his weaknesses. I have no problem with those who dislike his style - I've had many a conversation in these pages regarding such - but I hold in low regard folks that revel in gratuitous slams against Levi (or any other rider). And I find particularly distasteful the fellow commenters who so willingly admit loathing.

 

[Damiano Machiavelli]

If I were having such a conversation in person and the other said what you just said, I would walk away. Meaningful conversations do not occur when one expresses such vitriol.

Granted, this is an internet forum where ones anonymity offers them an protective blanket to say... unfortunate things. I have been to your Clinic. And I find it lacking. The few informative posts are offset by the overwhelmingly nasty conjectures that seemingly originate because someone's favored rider was beaten by ones hated rider. Doping has existed in the Pro (and amateur) peloton for years; to pretend that it only exists outside of your favored riders is naive at best.

It sounds like you would feel right at home in The Clinic. Your love of Levi has made you completely unable to understand why other people dislike him, right past the point of thinking that such things are even a valid reason for disliking him. Personally if I was having a conversation with someone who displayed the moral bankruptcy of not caring how someone achieved their results then I would walk away because no meaningful conversation could occur.

I can just imagine you talking with someone about Bernie Madoff. "How dare you display such loathing for another human being. This conversation is over. Good day, sir."

There are lots of reasons to dislike Leipheimer. People like you--well, maybe I should just say you since there does not appear to be any other fans of Levi--have never made a case for why anyone should care for the boring little twerp with questionable ethics. Instead there are many people disappointed to see such a great race soiled by Levi and fear the possible consequences to the race when the storm cloud hanging over him finally yields rain. Your misplaced homerism for Levi appears to have left you unable to understand why people dislike him so much.

In fact it was you who made the statement that you cannot understand why anyone would loathe him. Then you climbed up on your moral high horse to pat yourself on the back for being such an exalted human being that exists on a plane of holiness above those who answered the very question that you asked. Do not ask a question if you will not like the inevitable answer.

 

[Anonymous]

final climb
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xkjhwh_tour-of-utah-final-stage-closing-climb_sport

 

[Damiano Machiavelli]

final climb
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xkjhwh_tour-of-utah-final-stage-closing-climb_sport

Oh, sweet! Thank you.

 

[Deagol]

Looks like Levi is also racing in Colorado....

Edit: Velonews really going downhill, they have nothing posted about today's stage, and it's been over for hours..

 

[Tuarts]

What, this is crazy. 11 new pages for one day of an obscure race in terms of cycling prestige? It's not 80% whinging about the tracker I hope...

 

[Damiano Machiavelli]

What, this is crazy. 11 new pages for one day of an obscure race in terms of cycling prestige? It's not 80% whinging about the tracker I hope...

What do you mean? Utah just bumped California out of its spot as the fourth grand tour.

 

[LukeSchmid]

What do you mean? Utah just bumped California out of its spot as the fourth grand tour.

But Colorado is charging up on the inside and by next week might make Utah's position an extremely short lived one.

 

[skidmark]

What, this is crazy. 11 new pages for one day of an obscure race in terms of cycling prestige? It's not 80% whinging about the tracker I hope...

I don't think it's that crazy. To me, it seems to make sense... It's a new (to the pro level) and pretty good race in an English-speaking country, this is an English speaking site/forum, and a significant amount of posters live in North America and so they're watching it live and able to post while doing so. I know the more famous and prestigious races should get more attention than relatively obscure ones, but this one had a few practical factors going for it.

Plus the tracker was damn annoying.

 

[hfer07]

Very pleased with this year's edition-the parcours was indeed demanding & well laid out-also endless thanks to Gobernacion de Antioquia team for providing such excitement throughout the race, and to show the world the new face of Colombian cycling-a world class team worth to receive more international invitations to compete....

 

[Phoenix23]

I'm assuming everyone else saw this, but I find Jani complaining about anyone wheelsucking Leipheimer to be one of the funniest things I have read all month.

 

[Lupetto]

The route for Colorado looks pretty sucky compared to Utah, but the Altitude might do some serious damage.

In colombian races Sevilla usually cracks big time above 3000 meters, so this should be for Henao as well. But with the tt, it will be nearly impossible for him to win.

 

[Midnightfright]

It sounds like you would feel right at home in The Clinic. Your love of Levi has made you completely unable to understand why other people dislike him, right past the point of thinking that such things are even a valid reason for disliking him. Personally if I was having a conversation with someone who displayed the moral bankruptcy of not caring how someone achieved their results then I would walk away because no meaningful conversation could occur.

I can just imagine you talking with someone about Bernie Madoff. "How dare you display such loathing for another human being. This conversation is over. Good day, sir."

There are lots of reasons to dislike Leipheimer. People like you--well, maybe I should just say you since there does not appear to be any other fans of Levi--have never made a case for why anyone should care for the boring little twerp with questionable ethics. Instead there are many people disappointed to see such a great race soiled by Levi and fear the possible consequences to the race when the storm cloud hanging over him finally yields rain. Your misplaced homerism for Levi appears to have left you unable to understand why people dislike him so much.

In fact it was you who made the statement that you cannot understand why anyone would loathe him. Then you climbed up on your moral high horse to pat yourself on the back for being such an exalted human being that exists on a plane of holiness above those who answered the very question that you asked. Do not ask a question if you will not like the inevitable answer.

I like Levi, he's gotten the most of his limited climbing ability but can certainly understand other peoples dislike of him