Levi Leipheimer

[bianchigirl]

Livingston was one of the early adopters of Dr Ferrari - his name was mentioned in many of the documents seized for the good Dr's trial and I believe his hct was strangely elevated as soon as the collaboration started.

The evidence is so overwhelming isn't it? You'd have to be incredibly ignorant and/or stupid not to alter your opinion on Armstrong's godlike status.

As for Damsgaard - like all those programmes, you think it was to actually stop riders doping? Nah, it was just there to stop them getting caught.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

leipheimer got pinched 14 years ago for a little too much ephedra (widely available OTC at the time) and served a measily 3 month suspension.....there's a new number one on my "who gives a damn list".

maybe instead of working my real job i'll start a blog and write sensationally about non-news items and to generate interest in an otherwise worthless blog post i'll generate discussion and link to it from cycling forums.

I had never heard of it before it cropped up on the 'Twitter' thread - and wasn't particularly convinced until the link from the 'Winning' magazine was produced - so it is 'news' to me .

Actually getting a 3 month ban 14 years ago was having the book thrown at you.

 

[Escarabajo]

leipheimer got pinched 14 years ago for a little too much ephedra (widely available OTC at the time) and served a measily 3 month suspension.....there's a new number one on my "who gives a damn list".

maybe instead of working my real job i'll start a blog and write sensationally about non-news items and to generate interest in an otherwise worthless blog post i'll generate discussion and link to it from cycling forums.

He could have been one of those riders who won the Crit around your neighborhood. Just doped enough to win it.

 

[rxgqgxnyfz]

For those who don't remember off the top of their heads, Python is of course referring to the unlucky Vladimir Gusev, whose career was destroyed by the demon Combo referred to above. Gusev was fired from Astana without appeal in 2008 when he returned supposed abnormal values in an internal check, despite the rider's own protestations of innocence and the fact that he was cleared by the CAS of any suspicion of doping - and Astana ordered to pay all of his legal costs and back wages.

Just a few more remarks on the matter.

According to N. Proskurin (former head of the Kazakhstan cycling federation and a one of the Astana bosses at the time) he actively objected against Bruyneel firing Gusev and even made Johan sign a special agreement that if Gusev will be vindicated all losses will be paid by Bruyneel.
________
Vapoeizers

 

[joe_papp]

leipheimer got pinched 14 years ago for a little too much ephedra (widely available OTC at the time) and served a measily 3 month suspension.....

Actually, it shows clearly that Leipheimer was willing to cheat from earliest days to win in cycling...and it exposes the hypocrisy of his pseudo-teammate Taylor Phinney, who will **** "doper" at Vino' and whine that he dislikes cheaters, while remaining either ignorant of, or silent on, his pseudo-teammate's of history of doping.

 

[issoisso]

i never liked that damsgaard guy and now im starting to doubt his professionalism.

You're only just starting to doubt a guy who will give wildly differing opinions of equivalent blood values depending on whether the rider rides for his team?

You're only just starting to doubt a guy who takes gifts from the teams he's supposed to be controlling.

You're only just starting to doubt a guy who was booted out by his very own business associates who themselves no longer believe he can be trusted to actually be on the side of clean cycling at all?

I'm hoping you were being sarcastic

Apologies if the wording sounded a bit too strong. Damsgaard is not to be trusted in any way, shape or form, under any circumstances whatsoever.

 

[Hugh Januss]

How much dope does it take to make your head this big relative to your body?

Obviously Jason needs to double up his doses.
He's got the smallest head of the lot.

 

[SpeedWay]

leipheimer got pinched 14 years ago for a little too much ephedra (widely available OTC at the time) and served a measily 3 month suspension.....there's a new number one on my "who gives a damn list".

maybe instead of working my real job i'll start a blog and write sensationally about non-news items and to generate interest in an otherwise worthless blog post i'll generate discussion and link to it from cycling forums.

Stay classy L,M,&G. What may not seem important to an adult in a lawn chair enjoying a cold one is the be all/end all to a child in a sand box playing nearby(day after day after day after day).

 

[forty four]

oh god its for ephedra seriously who cares i have taken ephedra before its more or less the same as caffeine. its not epo or something else that gives real benefit.

 

[flicker]

Levi 1996 ancient history. Everyone knows about it anyway J.P.

Also Merckx was thrown out of the Giro in '69. Betcha didn't know that.

Seriously Joe, I really need to see some more models, and not the plastic airplane type.

 

[forty four]

until recently you could buy it at any gas station. its on the banned list but i dont consider this doping. since were on the subject taking over 600 milligrams of caffeine is also banned now how many pros and amateurs follow that rule lol same thing.

 

[flicker]

oh god its for ephedra seriously who cares i have taken ephedra before its more or less the same as caffeine. its not epo or something else that gives real benefit.

You sound so much like Greg LeMond!

 

[Colm.Murphy]

I had never heard of it before it cropped up on the 'Twitter' thread - and wasn't particularly convinced until the link from the 'Winning' magazine was produced - so it is 'news' to me .

Actually getting a 3 month ban 14 years ago was having the book thrown at you.

Especially telling, and the thing that fuels the anti-doping zealots and moral indignity around her, is that fact that he would have been out for 2 years had this been a recent digression.

Better yet, "Ban him for life!" is what often echoes in this forum.

Solutions? This place really does not understand the problem.

 

[Polish]

Actually getting a 3 month ban 14 years ago was having the book thrown at you.

+1 on the book being thrown.

This was 1996 - near or at the High Water Mark for EPO abuse.
The term "serving your time" had not made it into Pro Cycling Fan lexicon yet lol.

I mean c'mon....

The entire TdF Podium would admit to using EPO,
including the Polka Dot and Green Jersey winners.
Best young rider too.

Johan Museeuw won the Worlds Road Race and the Overall World Cup Jersey on who knows what kind of concoction that year.

Alex Zulle won the World TT and the Vuelta riding for one of the maestros of doping Manolo Saiz at ONCE. Zulle would later admit he was doped on EPO during that year.

Pavel Tonkov won the Giro coached by Dr Michele Ferrari

The Festina cycling team was juiced to the gills, as were Kelme, Mapei, Gewiss, and many many more. Look at the results of 1996. It is a cornicopia of doping abuse....

And this was the Pro Peloton that young Levi Leipheimer would soon be entering yikes!

Having his jersey confiscated and "serving his time" way back then was probably a GOOD THING for Levi in retrospect.

At best the experience "scared him straight", at worst it taught him to be much more careful.

 

[badboygolf16v]

Solutions? This place really does not understand the problem.

So what is the problem? Would you care to elucidate?

 

[elapid]

Also Merckx was thrown out of the Giro in '69. Betcha didn't know that.

How stupid do you think we all are? Merckx actually tested positive three times. Its public knowledge. Duh! But Levi's positive was not wide spread public knowledge, and it was remarkably well hidden especially for the internet age. Why shouldn't Levi's positive be as public knowledge as Merckx's positive results to similar stimulants? Considering Phinney's at best naive statements about Vinokourov's LBL win and deliberate ignorance of Lance's doping, highlighting that Levi was positive for a banned substance is worthwhile.

 

[Hugh Januss]

How stupid do you think we all are? Merckx actually tested positive three times. Its public knowledge. Duh! But Levi's positive was not wide spread public knowledge, and it was remarkably well hidden especially for the internet age. Why shouldn't Levi's positive be as public knowledge as Merckx's positive results to similar stimulants? Considering Phinney's at best naive statements about Vinokourov's LBL win and deliberate ignorance of Lance's doping, highlighting that Levi was positive for a banned substance is worthwhile.

Didn't Merckx also claim he was set up by jealous Italians who wanted their guy to win. Somethings never change.
Best part, I realized as I was hitting the post button, that last could refer to Lance, Landis, Valverde, and others equally.

 

[joe_papp]

I didn't see any sign of a cold...

OH, for those apologists suggesting "accidental ingestion" ... I competed in the race in question, and don't remember Leipheimer displaying any signs of a "cold" or even whining about being sick on the start line, such that anyone would imagine he needed to be on a cold medicine that day. In Ohio. In mid-August. For the National Championship. That he won. By lapping the field. On one of the hardest criterium courses in North America.

 

[joe_papp]

How stupid do you think we all are? Merckx actually tested positive three times. Its public knowledge. Duh! But Levi's positive was not wide spread public knowledge, and it was remarkably well hidden especially for the internet age. Why shouldn't Levi's positive be as public knowledge as Merckx's positive results to similar stimulants? Considering Phinney's at best naive statements about Vinokourov's LBL win and deliberate ignorance of Lance's doping, highlighting that Levi was positive for a banned substance is worthwhile.

As I just noted, I rode this race, I remember Levi lapping the remnants of the field on what was one of the hardest crit courses in North America, and I also remember not being entirely surprised when it was revealed that he'd doped.

But of course many fans of cycling now weren't around in 1996 to see the printed notification of his transgression, and so think of L2 as a clean-by-default (that is, by virtue of not having tested positive) rider. Others know the truth.

Taylor Phinney is not one of them, however, and if there's one thing I hate more than a doper who doesn't get caught it's a hypocrite. And for Taylor to bash Vino' while he own pseudo-teammate has a doping history, well - make all the excuses you want about the 1) substance 2) whether or not LL might have "accidentally" taken it or 3) the length of time for the suspension. It's right to say that he would face a 2-year ban if caught doing the same thing today, but more importantly, it's right to point out the fact that the rising star of US cycling is either 1) too ignorant to know that Leipheimer was positive and is therefore a "cheat" in the same vein as Vino and should be harangued via Twitter by young TP just like said Kazakh, or 2) already engaging in deflection and other calculated PR gambits to tarnish the image of some riders, while leaving others unmolested.

 

[hfer07]

I was really trying to understand the purpose of this thread, because yes- he doped 14 years ago and got 3 moths of suspension-- that's a fact
now, JOe is trying to uncover the hypocrisy of Leechaimer & the entire LA/hog combo on how clean they ride-but everybody knows they are as dirty as the New York sewer lines & no matter is the story goes back a decade-every one still knows that back in those days, they indeed were hooked in the juice & nowadays they get the "real juice" from Ferrari-Leechaimer himself was/has been couched by him. so I asked myself-what's the fuzz all about?

 

[Polish]

Doesn't Levi take care of abandoned animals?

Geez Joe, you must hate Puppies....

 

[BikeCentric]

Doesn't Levi take care of abandoned animals?

Geez Joe, you must hate Puppies....

Welcome to America, where our podium girls are fat, have ugly tattoos, and wear Ray Bans from Magnum PI circa 1984.

When does the Giro start again?

 

[Race Radio]

While Levi might have done a good job keeping his doping quite he forgot to tell his wife who has vocalized how inconvenient the Rabobank blood doping program was.

 

[BroDeal]

Doesn't Levi take care of abandoned animals?

Geez Joe, you must hate Puppies....

Jeebus! In a fight between Leipheimer and that right podium "girl" I would put all my money on the girl. I bet those man-hands could choke the life out of Leipheimer, no problemo.

 

[BikeCentric]

Jeebus! In a fight between Leipheimer and that right podium "girl" I would put all my money on the girl. I bet those man-hands could choke the life out of Leipheimer, no problemo.

I don't know, one head-but from Bottle's mighty noggin could at least make it a fair fight.