Levi Leipheimer

[Moose McKnuckles]

2007 TDF..Contador could not follow him.

Was that the "attack" where Rasmussen was already up the road?

 

[BroDeal]

I haven't heard a single nice thing about Levi from anyone, and I know people who know him well.

That is a rather ambiguous statement. Does it mean people say he is a jerk or people say he is a lump that does not make an impression? If it is the latter then it would be just like he races.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

That is a rather ambiguous statement. Does it mean people say he is a jerk or people say he is a lump that does not make an impression? If it is the latter then it would be just like he races.

He's a completely self-centered person from what people have told me.

Racing wise, he's animated the Tour of Utah and Tour of the Gila on occasion.

 

[Aleajactaest]

He's a completely self-centered person from what people have told me.

And this is somehow different than all other professional athletes? It's the nature of how they make a living. I think Levi is a terminally introverted man in a sport which does not reward shyness. I have no reason to think that inherently makes him a **** but it certainly would come across that way.

 

[TheMight]

Was Levi a real a$$hole in person or something? It seems like he was never liked by other US riders, and nobody seems to give a s**t that he wanted to ride. Anyone have the low-down on him?

Well, he's kind of old, isn't he? You think he was going to sign for cheap? I suspect if he was willing to ride for free, there are teams that might take a chance on him, at least to animate some North American races. I just don't think that was in his plans, if that was the case, he possibly could have kept his job at QuickStep. Maybe I missed it where he was saying he'd race for room and board or whatever.. I was sort of under the impression he was going to charge TdF podium finisher prices.

To some degree I see this whole episode being labeled as a North American and Dutch chapter and exactly nothing is going to happen in Europe, they're just waiting for guys to retire. Menchov just hung it up, there aren't too many more years for most of the Slipstream crowd. George is gone, Julich is gone... Blanco hasn't got a big new sponsor yet and that team could very well be gone at the end of the year. I believe the same is true for Radioshack. Maybe Levi is a jerk (I don't ever remember him carrying a bottle and I do remember him basically attacking teammates,) but I think the combination of cost, age and then just a desire to have these guys go away is the reason.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Was that the "attack" where Rasmussen was already up the road?

Yes....

 

[DirtyWorks]

....I think the combination of cost, age and then just a desire to have these guys go away is the reason.

Mancebo is tearing up the American domestic scene and has been for years. Typical of the UCI, they seem to pick athletes to lock out. Mancebo rides, Levi doesn't. <shrug>

Levi could do a "victory lap" thing around the U.S. Judging by the comments on the CN article, people love the twice-busted-but-not-banned cheater.

 

[thehog]

Well, he's kind of old, isn't he? You think he was going to sign for cheap? I suspect if he was willing to ride for free, there are teams that might take a chance on him, at least to animate some North American races. I just don't think that was in his plans, if that was the case, he possibly could have kept his job at QuickStep. Maybe I missed it where he was saying he'd race for room and board or whatever.. I was sort of under the impression he was going to charge TdF podium finisher prices.

To some degree I see this whole episode being labeled as a North American and Dutch chapter and exactly nothing is going to happen in Europe, they're just waiting for guys to retire. Menchov just hung it up, there aren't too many more years for most of the Slipstream crowd. George is gone, Julich is gone... Blanco hasn't got a big new sponsor yet and that team could very well be gone at the end of the year. I believe the same is true for Radioshack. Maybe Levi is a jerk (I don't ever remember him carrying a bottle and I do remember him basically attacking teammates,) but I think the combination of cost, age and then just a desire to have these guys go away is the reason.

Julich just signed for BMC.

 

[thehog]

The man never should have stepped on a GT podium ever. All things being equal he wouldn't have even made it to Europe.

He was a living example of why drugs on sport are bad. Bland, deadbeat cyclists like Levi win races.

 

[DirtyWorks]

And this is somehow different than all other professional athletes? It's the nature of how they make a living. I think Levi is a terminally introverted man in a sport which does not reward shyness. I have no reason to think that inherently makes him a **** but it certainly would come across that way.

Yeah, poor him. An introvert living the good life in Santa Rosa because he cheated from his junior days onward.

I'll give him credit for recognizing which way the wind was blowing regarding Armstrong.

 

[131313]

Mancebo is tearing up the American domestic scene and has been for years. Typical of the UCI, they seem to pick athletes to lock out. Mancebo rides, Levi doesn't. <shrug>

Levi could do a "victory lap" thing around the U.S. Judging by the comments on the CN article, people love the twice-busted-but-not-banned cheater.

You're off base on that one. Mancebo came over to the US looking to race, and willing to do it pretty cheaply. Real Cyclist certainly didn't have much money to pay him and neither does Kenda. If Levi were willing to ride for 50K a year, a team would have given him a ride, maybe. Keep in mind that by the time QS cut him loose, rosters were set and the little money out there was already earmarked. How are teams supposed to magically make even 50K appear, just to bring back a 39 year old rider just off suspension?

To frame this as some sorta UCI conspiracy is a bit ridiculous. They aren't "locking him out", at least in the US. And as far as the Euro teams go, there are a lot of riders out there without his baggage. That's just the reality of getting a job in US cycling.

As far as Levi himself, I've always found him to be a nice guy, way more so than some of the suspended guys still racing and desperately in need of personality transplants.

 

[DirtyWorks]

You're off base on that one. Mancebo came over to the US looking to race, and willing to do it pretty cheaply. Real Cyclist certainly didn't have much money to pay him and neither does Kenda. If Levi were willing to ride for 50K a year, a team would have given him a ride, maybe.

I don't disagree with what you posted at all. It's absolutely true that logistics played into the situation. My point is the UCI to some extent, and definitely USAC have no problem keeping guys like Mancebo around fully aware of the implicit message, doping is okay.

It's not like you need $100,000 to dope nationally either.

To frame this as some sorta UCI conspiracy is a bit ridiculous. They aren't "locking him out", at least in the US.

The lock-out is at the WorldTour level. Look at situations like Landis and FuYu Li, a Rassmussen, and Mancebo out there. They are never going back to the WorldTour.

Send a PM to Oldman about how USAC was very, very much in the local cycling scrum in the northwest when there was an athlete racing there they didn't like.

Next year, would he get a victory lap on a domestic team? He can do Tour of Redlands/Gila/Downer's Grove until he's 60 and the UCI won't care. What are the chances the UCI would like him popping up in Tour of Calif? IMHO, somehow, he would not end up on the team for the most visible domestic races.

I used too much intellectual shorthand in the post to which you replied.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Mancebo is tearing up the American domestic scene and has been for years. Typical of the UCI, they seem to pick athletes to lock out. Mancebo rides, Levi doesn't. <shrug>

Levi could do a "victory lap" thing around the U.S. Judging by the comments on the CN article, people love the twice-busted-but-not-banned cheater.

And ever since Puerto, Mancebo's been riding for peanuts in Portuguese and American domestic teams and Levi's been finishing on the podium of Grand Tours and winning races like the Tour de Suisse while Paco's been making ends meet riding for Heraklion-Kastro at the Tour de Guadeloupe.

Paco's suffered MUCH more for being busted than Levi, so forgive me if I have no sympathy for Levi not being able to find a team willing to pay him the salary he wants while Paco's still out there jumping from small team to small team. It's a bit like Valverde claiming the injustice of his being suspended when he's been earning €4m a year at Caisse because Santiago Pérez still had a contract earning minimum wage at Centro Ciclismo de Loulé-Louletano.

 

[DirtyWorks]

As far as Levi himself, I've always found him to be a nice guy, way more so than some of the suspended guys still racing and desperately in need of personality transplants.

Why cut him some slack for stealing from you and other clean riders?
This is the part I don't understand.

Let's not forget the message guys like him spread about cycling as a doper's sport that you as a clean rider have to somehow overcome. His past behaviour just makes everything so much worse.

 

[thehog]

And ever since Puerto, Mancebo's been riding for peanuts in Portuguese and American domestic teams and Levi's been finishing on the podium of Grand Tours and winning races like the Tour de Suisse while Paco's been making ends meet riding for Heraklion-Kastro at the Tour de Guadeloupe.

Paco's suffered MUCH more for being busted than Levi, so forgive me if I have no sympathy for Levi not being able to find a team willing to pay him the salary he wants while Paco's still out there jumping from small team to small team. It's a bit like Valverde claiming the injustice of his being suspended when he's been earning €4m a year at Caisse because Santiago Pérez still had a contract earning minimum wage at Centro Ciclismo de Loulé-Louletano.

Exactly. Paco was shut out of Europe after OP. ag2R dropped him and McQuaid ordered teams not to hire him. What choice did he have?

Levi has been hamming it up ever since.

 

[131313]

Why cut him some slack for stealing from you and other clean riders?
This is the part I don't understand.

Let's not forget the message guys like him spread about cycling as a doper's sport that you as a clean rider have to somehow overcome. His past behaviour just makes everything so much worse.

Trust me, I don't cut him any slack over the whole doping thing. It's even more annoying to me since he's raced in a fair bit of domestic stuff over the years and obviously our paths have crossed a bit. So, on one level that puts him in the giant d-bag category. I'm just responding to the question about him being an (even bigger) d-bag than the average doped cyclist, and that being a reason for him unemployment. I don't think personality issues are what caused him to not get a ride.

I will say it's weird, racing with guys whose entire careers are built on a fraud, when you both know it--and you both know that you know it. I think I and most others end up compartmentalizing it a bit. Levi doped, but in races we've done I've always found certainly clean riders to be the guys I've most wanted to punch in the face. And Levi was always seemed like a pleasant-enough guy. And during a race, the last thing I think about is so-and-so doping. I have to assume everyone is clean once they fire the gun, because if you start thinking about who's juiced you really will have a hard time pedaling your bike. As I said, I think you end up compartmentalizing it a bit. You have to, in my opinion, or it will eat at you to the point where it will affect your own performance.

 

[OnTheDrops]

Leipheimer has decided to thank everybody personally on twitter. 40 tweets in the last 20 minutes.

Twitter.com/Levileipheimer

 

[blackcat]

Which one of Levi's <strikethru>attacks</> is your favourite?

a) ummm....
b) urrrrr....
c) hmmm.

Never mind.

yeah, that one with the personality and hair

 

[blackcat]

Trust me, I don't cut him any slack over the whole doping thing. It's even more annoying to me since he's raced in a fair bit of domestic stuff over the years and obviously our paths have crossed a bit. So, on one level that puts him in the giant d-bag category. I'm just responding to the question about him being an (even bigger) d-bag than the average doped cyclist, and that being a reason for him unemployment. I don't think personality issues are what caused him to not get a ride.

I will say it's weird, racing with guys whose entire careers are built on a fraud, when you both know it--and you both know that you know it. I think I and most others end up compartmentalizing it a bit. Levi doped, but in races we've done I've always found certainly clean riders to be the guys I've most wanted to punch in the face. And Levi was always seemed like a pleasant-enough guy. And during a race, the last thing I think about is so-and-so doping. I have to assume everyone is clean once they fire the gun, because if you start thinking about who's juiced you really will have a hard time pedaling your bike. As I said, I think you end up compartmentalizing it a bit. You have to, in my opinion, or it will eat at you to the point where it will affect your own performance.

thanks for this (and all) contribution(s) 131313

 

[hiero2]

The man never should have stepped on a GT podium ever. All things being equal he wouldn't have even made it to Europe.

He was a living example of why drugs on sport are bad. Bland, deadbeat cyclists like Levi win races.

Well, now, you know, we can't honestly say that - because it is conjecture. By definition = crystal ball technique. Ok - he wouldn't have landed on the podium as often, is quite plausible. On an even playing field? We just don't know. Not at all.

And, THAT, imo, is why drugs in sport are bad - no even playing field, and no honesty about what an even field is.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Levi wheelsucking Menchov into retirement, or the other way round?

 

[TourOfSardinia]

The man never should have stepped on a GT podium ever. All things being equal he wouldn't have even made it to Europe.

He was a living example of why drugs on sport are bad. Bland, deadbeat cyclists like Levi win races.

True, he robbed Cunego of GC win.

 

[Gregga]

Can you believe it, Levi did upload on Strava his files from the Dauphiné he won in 2006... And took the KOM to Laurens Ten Dam
What a joke, what was he on in 2006 ?
I'd love to flag that segment !

http://www.strava.com/activities/2315884#38837044

EDIT : I've just had a look at the video from this year's TdF : from his attack at 7.1km to the summit Froome did 20'05, Levi 20'08.
I know, there was a terrible tailwind in 2013

 

[Afrank]

44 KOM's in a single ride! Someone get Mr. H to France to take back those KOM's pronto!

 

[filipo]

No Wold Tour team needs to hire a 39-year-old with doping baggage and no domestic team could come close to paying him what he is used to.

Glad this thread came up again, if only for the prescient quote above.