Leipheimer downplays chances at Kindergarten race, takes lead

[benpounder]

My issue is with Leipheimer furthering his rep as professional cycling premiere wheel sucker. He seemingly almost laughs as he shamelessly brags about his sucking Mancebo's wheel...

I like and root for Levi. I have followed him since the 2001 Vuelta. Obviously not the best in any category, but solid in all that matter. He has won some damn hard races, and stood on the podium in the biggest. That folks dont like his style, fine, but realize that the wheels that so many here accuse him of sucking are wheels that us mortals would have detached from, from km 0.

But mostly, I highlight your comment for the similarity to virtually all sprinters, who are treated soo much differently. They suck wheels for 200+km only to come out in the last 200m. They are heros but Levi is a schmuck.

One last question for those that dislike Levi. Did you like Miguel Indurain's style?

 

[eleven]

My issue is with Leipheimer furthering his rep as professional cycling premiere wheel sucker. He seemingly almost laughs as he shamelessly brags about his sucking Mancebo's wheel for most of the climb, making no contribution to the chase of the escapee(s), then after Mancebo falls for the grimacing, suffering face that Leipheimer displayed, in a show of strength he attacks Mancebo, obviously spent from dragging the dead weight that is Levi, up the mountain.
It's no wonder that I wince every time I get a sighting of Leipheimer all tucked in, hiding in the peloton with his beaming forehead inches from his stem, trying to get the maximum from the draft, sucking the lifeforce from all in front of him. Well, at least he's consistent. Seldom strays from his standard M.O. .

I'm not sure Levi should have to apologize to Mancebo for riding a smart race. Mancebo was under no obligation to pull.

 

[Squares]

The field isn't as strong, but you can never expect the likes of Landis and Boonen to show up at a race where you need a membership card to buy 3.2% beer.

It is so funny when people try to be funny, especially when they don't have facts on their side.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/5th-tour-of-utah-ne/prologue/photos/84192The Tour of Utah Prologue!!!

About the beer, the laws changed dramatically before the 2002 Olympics. You can get a 3.2 beer at almost any restaurant, as well as mixed drinks and wine.

Your comment did remind me of the joke we told in high school in Utah: Q: What do having sex and a canoe and utah beer have in common? A: They are both F***ing pretty close to water.

 

[eleven]

It is so funny when people try to be funny, especially when they don't have facts on their side.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/5th-tour-of-utah-ne/prologue/photos/84192The Tour of Utah Prologue!!!

He needs to get back to juicing...or drinking whiskey. But that pic is from 2009 when he was riding for Ouch.

About the beer, the laws changed dramatically before the 2002 Olympics. You can get a 3.2 beer at almost any restaurant, as well as mixed drinks and wine.

However, if a place doesn't serve food, it can only serve beer unless it is a private club. Private clubs can serve wine, beer, liquor, or mixed drinks.

Your comment did remind me of the joke we told in high school in Utah: Q: What do having sex and a canoe and utah beer have in common? A: They are both F***ing pretty close to water.

Ah yes, now I recall hearing about the change prior to the Olympics. Thanks for the info...

 

[flicker]

I like and root for Levi. I have followed him since the 2001 Vuelta. Obviously not the best in any category, but solid in all that matter. He has won some damn hard races, and stood on the podium in the biggest. That folks dont like his style, fine, but realize that the wheels that so many here accuse him of sucking are wheels that us mortals would have detached from, from km 0.

But mostly, I highlight your comment for the similarity to virtually all sprinters, who are treated soo much differently. They suck wheels for 200+km only to come out in the last 200m. They are heros but Levi is a schmuck.

One last question for those that dislike Levi. Did you like Miguel Indurain's style?

I like Levis' riding style. Incredibly aerodynamic he is quite stealthy. We have issue with him because in an interview he told the reporter that Odesa carries the groceries to the house because Levi did not want to build to much upperbody strength. Also if he is on the program how come he doesn't produce the results of Contador, Schleck, Menchov and the rider formerly known as Armstrong. We expected a little better from him.

 

[Angliru]

I like and root for Levi. I have followed him since the 2001 Vuelta. Obviously not the best in any category, but solid in all that matter. He has won some damn hard races, and stood on the podium in the biggest. That folks dont like his style, fine, but realize that the wheels that so many here accuse him of sucking are wheels that us mortals would have detached from, from km 0.

But mostly, I highlight your comment for the similarity to virtually all sprinters, who are treated soo much differently. They suck wheels for 200+km only to come out in the last 200m. They are heros but Levi is a schmuck.

One last question for those that dislike Levi. Did you like Miguel Indurain's style?

So we should admire him because he ably sticks to wheels that we(I) couldn't? Did you miss the part where I mentioned his intentional lack of contribution in the chase to reel in the escapee's? He is shameless.

His riding style is completely repulsive to me. Absolutely no risk taking, "limit my losses" strategy that is as visually stimulating as watching paint dry.
My one positive in regards to him is that it appears his career is widing down and I will no longer have to avert my gaise from the horrors of his overall riding style, strategy and technique.

I'll give him credit where it is due. He's a good stage racer, a pretty good climber, and very good in the ITT. No more credit left to give. The final statement I have is that whenever he's been given the reigns to ride for himself as a team leader he's choked on it, while when given dual leadership or
riding as chief lieutenant he's actually ridden better in the grand tours based on his final standing in the gc's when comparing the 2 positions of team responsibility that he's had. Still an impressive record overall in the grand tours just not one comparable to his contemporaries, Sastre and Menchov.

Let the blazing from the Leipheimer fans begin.

 

[Nick C.]

I like and root for Levi. I have followed him since the 2001 Vuelta. Obviously not the best in any category, but solid in all that matter. He has won some damn hard races, and stood on the podium in the biggest. That folks dont like his style, fine, but realize that the wheels that so many here accuse him of sucking are wheels that us mortals would have detached from, from km 0.

But mostly, I highlight your comment for the similarity to virtually all sprinters, who are treated soo much differently. They suck wheels for 200+km only to come out in the last 200m. They are heros but Levi is a schmuck.

One last question for those that dislike Levi. Did you like Miguel Indurain's style?

I only have seen Indurain fom DVDs but he would swap turns if not lead himself on the mountain stages. Levi in '07 was ridiculing, I think it was Cobo, for saying "I can't anymore" with regards to chasing down Contador and Rasmussen on which ever stage that was with a reasonable group chasing on the descent and runin to the finish. And in the Dauphine refused to take a turn with Cadel up or over the Joux Plane "if he wants to win the yellow jersey thats on him I'm not gonna help him do his job" or something to that effect. But it was OK for to have your losses limited or gain time or even take a stage based on someone's effort. not to mention every stage in '07 was Contador and Rasmussen drop everyone Levi latches onto Sastre and/or Evans and then jumping round in the final few hundred meters. So for me he went from moderately liked and followed to skeevatz.

 

[flicker]

Levi does run an excellent Grand-Fondo. Plus he is a nice guy has a pretty wife and loves animals. For me I want to see him on top of podium not third. Kinda disappointing.

 

[benpounder]

Let the blazing from the Leipheimer fans begin.

Seems that until I spoke up all the blazing was from the anti-Levi fanboys.

We all have, for mostly emotional reasons, cyclists we like, and those we detest. I admit I like Levi. I detest Ricardo Ricco, Alexandre Vinokorov, Danilo Di Luca and Michael Rasmussen. I also like Ivan Basso. Irrational I know. But the opposite is also true. The difference is I dont go around trying to drag down my "anti-heros".

 

[flicker]

Seems that until I spoke up all the blazing was from the anti-Levi fanboys.

We all have, for mostly emotional reasons, cyclists we like, and those we detest. I admit I like Levi. I detest Ricardo Ricco, Alexandre Vinokorov, Danilo Di Luca and Michael Rasmussen. I also like Ivan Basso. Irrational I know. But the opposite is also true. The difference is I dont go around trying to drag down my "anti-heros".

How can you hate Levi, he is an all-american and oh so likable personality.

 

[Angliru]

Seems that until I spoke up all the blazing was from the anti-Levi fanboys.

We all have, for mostly emotional reasons, cyclists we like, and those we detest. I admit I like Levi. I detest Ricardo Ricco, Alexandre Vinokorov, Danilo Di Luca and Michael Rasmussen. I also like Ivan Basso. Irrational I know. But the opposite is also true. The difference is I dont go around trying to drag down my "anti-heros".

So in your opinion I'm "dragging down" Leipheimer by giving my reasons why he's one of my least favorite riders? Oh well...

 

[fatandfast]

Levi does run an excellent Grand-Fondo. Plus he is a nice guy has a pretty wife and loves animals. For me I want to see him on top of podium not third. Kinda disappointing.

He is not my personal favorite but he has done lots for US cycling. The Fondo thing is a a good way to get people out in a mass start event. The guy has shown he can dominate both on and off pavement when his form is good. These last few days have been a show of awesome. His bicycle safety angle has helped make cycling seem a little less life or death for people are are just starting or live with people who are constantly worried that their loved one will be laying in a pile unable to talk for themselves. If Road ID gets people off your back then it's even better that a good racer like Levi is part of the company.

 

[benpounder]

So in your opinion I'm "dragging down" Leipheimer by giving my reasons why he's one of my least favorite riders? Oh well...

No, I'm suggesting that we all admit that our standards are highly subjective, and that we reign in the hyperbole. I was using your comment as foil.

...and yet i've been harboring my real resentment towards the OP's title.

irrational

 

[flicker]

He is not my personal favorite but he has done lots for US cycling. The Fondo thing is a a good way to get people out in a mass start event. The guy has shown he can dominate both on and off pavement when his form is good. These last few days have been a show of awesome. His bicycle safety angle has helped make cycling seem a little less life or death for people are are just starting or live with people who are constantly worried that their loved one will be laying in a pile unable to talk for themselves. If Road ID gets people off your back then it's even better that a good racer like Levi is part of the company.

Like I said Levi is an all-american. The film Great-Divide race had his brother at his bike shop in Missoula or Butte Montana. He is good for the American sport. I do not know how popular he is in Europe. I know people here think of the dark past but for me that is part of cycling love it or leave it. Better to stick to the positive.

 

[Nick C.]

Seems that until I spoke up all the blazing was from the anti-Levi fanboys.

We all have, for mostly emotional reasons, cyclists we like, and those we detest. I admit I like Levi. I detest Ricardo Ricco, Alexandre Vinokorov, Danilo Di Luca and Michael Rasmussen. I also like Ivan Basso. Irrational I know. But the opposite is also true. The difference is I dont go around trying to drag down my "anti-heros".

Strangely enough, I detest Ricco, dislike Rasmussen, find DiLuca a little creepy and am indifferent to Vino while liking and even rooting for Basso. Go figure.

 

[GWAR79]

TofU King of the Suck Wheel Jersey

“Mancebo did all the work and I sat behind with a grimacing look on my face,” Leipheimer said. “I guess he thought I was serious so he did all the work and brought back Darren. It was Darren, Phil, Boswell, Mancebo and myself. We kind of looked at each other and Mancebo hit it hard on one of the pitches. Then I went alone.”

 

[benpounder]

His bicycle safety angle has helped make cycling seem a little less life or death for people are are just starting or live with people who are constantly worried that their loved one will be laying in a pile unable to talk for themselves. If Road ID gets people off your back then it's even better that a good racer like Levi is part of the company.

At 16, I was laid to waste by a drunk teenager - So screwed up that I couldn't enunciate that the porch light over there was my house. Since then I have always ridden with identification. Seems silly the rider ID system promoted by Levi garners so much distain.

 

[flicker]

“Mancebo did all the work and I sat behind with a grimacing look on my face,” Leipheimer said. “I guess he thought I was serious so he did all the work and brought back Darren. It was Darren, Phil, Boswell, Mancebo and myself. We kind of looked at each other and Mancebo hit it hard on one of the pitches. Then I went alone.”

It is war, you win how you can. Not everyone can be Andy Hampsten, Greg LeMond or a certain Mr. Lance Armstrong. It is about winning after all.

 

[fatandfast]

At 16, I was laid to waste by a drunk teenager - So screwed up that I couldn't enunciate that the porch light over there was my house. Since then I have always ridden with identification. Seems silly the rider ID system promoted by Levi garners so much distain.

If you have been in the game for anytime you will know that the sponsor association part of racing is critical. Sponsors like to have a connection with life style and with positive and functional products and services. Road ID( I don't own one) is a good product on many levels. A not so close friend taught a bicycle safety class at a private school for very young kids. Each child rec'd a helmet, t-shirt, energy bar,bumpersticker, bicycle stickers and a coupon for a Road ID the price per child for the promotion was around 10 bucks and some of it was offset by some police money. It's cool to have the skull and cross bones bad boy thing going..it's just hard to get people to financially back your team when you go down the rebel/rock racing angle.
I think people dislike Levi and Lance on some level because they have had little humility..kind of the little mr.perfect thing for so long.They should have done some things to make themselves look human rather than a couple of Ken dolls..but hey some people like Ken dolls. They both should have got a DUI or in a bar fight over a girl and none of this crap would be happening.

 

[L29205]

I guess I don't have a problem with the way Levi won yesterdays stage. I feel it is different if you are surrounded by a team that can pull you along after a hard day then if you are there by yourself. Unless you count Trek/Livestrong as his team.

He did what he had to do. It doesn't matter however since I don't think he is going to be able to compete with Mancebo on the last stage. He probably would have been better off sand bagging it until Sunday and pulled out his I am not that tried trick on the final climb up into Snowbird. IMO

 

[Angliru]

One last question for those that dislike Levi. Did you like Miguel Indurain's style?

Actually, yes I did. Indurain was regal and dignified on the bike and to great effect. You really made a mistake with this comparison. Indurain, while his tactic was to stick with the best climbers in mountains-when he was able, rarely if ever snatched a victory after shadowing his opponents. Quite the opposite, he was quite generous in not contesting the stage wins for the most part. He had the ability to take the win but didn't. He showed on a couple of occasions that he could be aggressive and ride away from his opponents in the mountains that wasn't part of his overall strategy. He's very well recognized for his generosity.

Leipheimer is rarely in a position to be so generous nor has he the talent to do so. His is a sneak-in-the-back-door-while-no-one-is-looking strategy. He has often said in the past 2 years that that is how he hopes to win the Tour, while all of his opponents are focused on the real threats, he's hoping to escape and gain time, defend that time gap and then nail the ITT for the overall win. The problem with this strategy is that he is not likely to take the risk of trying to get away in a break to gain the time that is necessary for his strategy to be effective.

 

[Angliru]

No, I'm suggesting that we all admit that our standards are highly subjective, and that we reign in the hyperbole. I was using your comment as foil.

...and yet i've been harboring my real resentment towards the OP's title.

irrational

I am in agreement with your opinion of the OP's title but then I'm sure others would say my statements regarding Leipheimer are of a similar variety.

 

[Ninety5rpm]

Holy cow. A silly title generates 8 pages of comments. Did I strike a nerve? Or two?

 

[Wallace]

Leipheimer is rarely in a position to be so generous nor has he the talent to do so. His is a sneak-in-the-back-door-while-no-one-is-looking strategy. He has often said in the past 2 years that that is how he hopes to win the Tour, while all of his opponents are focused on the real threats, he's hoping to escape and gain time, defend that time gap and then nail the ITT for the overall win. The problem with this strategy is that he is not likely to take the risk of trying to get away in a break to gain the time that is necessary for his strategy to be effective.

I'd imagine that after this year's showing, Levi is no longer talking about ever being able to win the Tour.

 

[flicker]

I'd imagine that after this year's showing, Levi is no longer talking about ever being able to win the Tour.

If you know Levi you know all the talk of tour victory was spawn. But to hate Levi is un- american and communist.