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Levi not doping?

He's now 20 minutes down. I'm reminded of that year when he completely and inexplicably tanked on a tdf time trial.

Is it injuries, really? Or did he lose his will? Or his bags? Why doesn't he fake another fall and just fly home to Santa Rosa and start preparing for the Vuelta? What's the point in continuing here?
 
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Ninety5rpm said:
He's now 20 minutes down. I'm reminded of that year when he completely and inexplicably tanked on a tdf time trial.

Is it injuries, really? Or did he lose his will? Or his bags? Why doesn't he fake another fall and just fly home to Santa Rosa and start preparing for the Vuelta? What's the point in continuing here?

Carry bottles for Zubeldia?

Seriously, as soon as he lost significant time he knew he'd be in someone else's service. Then when Kloeden went out.... I think he's just going through the motions.

Maybe he'll get in a break and attack FTW. Or not:D
 
Maybe he just didn't peak for the Tour, considering his victory in the Tour de Suisse, especially considering he's several years older than any Tour de France winner in the last half century or so already. Lack of success isn't necessarily proof of not-doping.
 
Oct 16, 2010
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did you hear floyd speak about the paranoia Bruyneel experienced in the 2004 tdf?
after what happened in Italy, I assume Bruyneel is this year more paranoia than he's ever been.
It's very well possible that Radioshak is the only clean team on this years tour.
 
Feb 25, 2011
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I've always thought, counter to the "the whole peloton is doped" theory, that once you are out of contention you might as well reduce your risk and skip the refill. I figured that's why "the one who shall not be named" dropped so ridiculously fast last year after he fell out of contention. Why risk getting busted so you can finish 25th?
 
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Ninety5rpm said:
He's now 20 minutes down. I'm reminded of that year when he completely and inexplicably tanked on a tdf time trial.

Is it injuries, really? Or did he lose his will? Or his bags? Why doesn't he fake another fall and just fly home to Santa Rosa and start preparing for the Vuelta? What's the point in continuing here?

You're looking at Levi when he doesn't have Allen Lim helping him get a 1200mL oil change on the rest day...

Apparently Levi and the rest of the Radio Shack boys were afraid of being raided or caught red-handed this year because of the increased pressure from the LA investigation, so they opted to ride clean.

Now you see what kind of team they really are.
 

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Jun 19, 2009
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Ninety5rpm said:
He's now 20 minutes down. I'm reminded of that year when he completely and inexplicably tanked on a tdf time trial.

Is it injuries, really? Or did he lose his will? Or his bags? Why doesn't he fake another fall and just fly home to Santa Rosa and start preparing for the Vuelta? What's the point in continuing here?

Didn't you write this recently?

Ninety5rpm said:
Are there truly people on this forum who still believe one can even ride in the TDF clean and finish within the time limit, much less ride clean with the leaders? :eek:

Using your logic even though he is 20 minutes down he is still doping.
 
Jun 18, 2009
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Ninety5rpm said:
He's now 20 minutes down. I'm reminded of that year when he completely and inexplicably tanked on a tdf time trial.

Is it injuries, really? Or did he lose his will? Or his bags? Why doesn't he fake another fall and just fly home to Santa Rosa and start preparing for the Vuelta? What's the point in continuing here?

My take is that he intentionally lost time the last day in the Pyrenees, and some today, so he could try to go up the road on one of the final mountain stages and go for a stage win. His other option was to keep going for a GC ride and hope for top 10, which counts for nothing for a guy with his past palmares. That's my guess at least. I guess we'll know in a few days. He was out of a podium spot due to the crashes.

There's not much left, so the Shack really need a stage win for this not to be a complete wash for them.

I don't think his preparation for this race much different than before.
 
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TERMINATOR said:
Now you see what kind of team they really are.

Maybe. But, it's still pretty hard to ignore the fact that the biggest problem for Radioshack has been the fact that all four of their leaders suffered misfortune.

It's hard to really tell whether a guy is riding his best when he breaks a collarbone (Brajkovic), smashes his face in (Horner), or repeatedly wrenches his back (Kloeden).

People might not like to admit it, but evaluating Lance's Tour form last year is tricky, too, since he insisted on kissing the pavement every other day or so.

As for Levi, he did just win the Tour de Suisse. Not exactly an easy tour for clean riders.
 
TERMINATOR said:
You're looking at Levi when he doesn't have Allen Lim helping him get a 1200mL oil change on the rest day...

Apparently Levi and the rest of the Radio Shack boys were afraid of being raided or caught red-handed this year because of the increased pressure from the LA investigation, so they opted to ride clean.

Now you see what kind of team they really are.
Hmmm, i'm not convinced of that. They had no problems winning in the TDS a few weeks back.

Their 4 potential GC riders all got hurt and where basically eliminated for the GC before the mountains. Makes no sense for LL to go for a refill on a restday when he only has a marginal shot at one stagewin anyway if they were doping anyway, so i'm not expecting anything at all. Yeah, he might try to get in a breakaway, but i'm not expecting magic
 
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Ninety5rpm said:
He's now 20 minutes down. I'm reminded of that year when he completely and inexplicably tanked on a tdf time trial.

Is it injuries, really? Or did he lose his will? Or his bags? Why doesn't he fake another fall and just fly home to Santa Rosa and start preparing for the Vuelta? What's the point in continuing here?

He's on Vs ads for several different products. I think he had bigger plans and maybe a more accessible "program" in mind than panned out in the field.
 
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ergmonkey said:
Maybe. But, it's still pretty hard to ignore the fact that the biggest problem for Radioshack has been the fact that all four of their leaders suffered misfortune.

They have a lot to learn. Unfortunately most of the team has reached age where they have a hard time remembering what they had for breakfast.
 
Oct 16, 2010
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Cobblestones said:
Leipheimer clean???
No need to get into wild speculations here.

What's wrong with:
1) he peaked for the prep race
2) he's getting old

him getting old didn't prevent him from peaking for the prep race, so lets discard nr. 2.
nr. 1 is plausible.
nonetheless, there is plenty of reason to believe that nobody at Radioshack is transferring any blood this tour.
which of course doesnt mean they're clean. but no Edgar Alan Poe or blood transfusions, if you ask me.

this is the clip where floyd's elaborates on bruyneel's paranoia (fear of leaving any physical traces of doping) in the 2004 tour:
http://sports.yahoo.com/video/playe...954415#news/Graham_Bensinger_InDepth/25952979
 

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