Levi's blood values in 2005 pretty suspicious

[flicker]

And as so often happens, it appears you were wrong.

Once you are on the sauce you are on the sauce. Levis' 2001 Vuelta, well he mighta had some salsa on his burrito. What I do not get is if he was on the sauce all the time he would be more consistent. Why would he not want total top preparation?
Realise also I have never misunderestimated Levis' talent. He is actually a punching bag for my family to joke upon.

 

[editedbymod]

This is big. This is the very first public corroboration of Landis's story in regards to 2005. It's a very important part of the story.

Recall:
2005: I had learned at this point how to do most of the transfusion
technicals and other things on my own so I hired Allen Lim as my assistant
to help with details and logistics. He helped Levi Leipheimer and I prepare
the transfusions for Levi and I and made sure they were kept at the proper
temperature. We both did two seperate transfusions that Tour however my
hematocrit was too low at the start so I did my first one a few days before
the start so as to not start with a deficit.

 

[Hugh Januss]

Once you are on the sauce you are on the sauce. Levis' 2001 Vuelta, well he mighta had some salsa on his burrito. What I do not get is if he was on the sauce all the time he would be more consistent. Why would he not want total top preparation?
Realise also I have never misunderestimated Levis' talent. He is actually a punching bag for my family to joke upon.

Maybe the guys who are predisposed to the ocassional bad day would be the same guys if everyone is doping as they would be if everyone were clean.

 

[joe1265]

HMH decided he couldn't risk being sued by Levi, so he left him in the TdF, then allowed him to start the Deutschland Tour a month later?

If the guy was about to fail a drug test at any time, which would bring about the financial ruin of the team and owner, why let him start the DT?

Something isn't adding up here......

 

[Hugh Januss]

HMH decided he couldn't risk being sued by Levi, so he left him in the TdF, then allowed him to start the Deutschland Tour a month later?

If the guy was about to fail a drug test at any time, which would bring about the financial ruin of the team and owner, why let him start the DT?

Something isn't adding up here......

Risk/Reward

 

[roundabout]

Of course it isn't adding up. It's Holczer, the man who signed Rebellin in a belief that he was a clean cyclist despite the 2001 Giro razzia.

In professional sport, I believe nothing. Ever since (Davide) Rebellin (tested positive), I lost all belief in sport

It's hard to fathom how a man who uses the idiot defense became an apparent expert on doping in cycling.

 

[Beech Mtn]

While it is good that H-M H is speaking out. Does anyone believe that he is so stupid that he had no idea of exactly what LL was doing, or Schumacher or Kohl etc.?
Are we going to see the beginning of a new strategy in which managment and ex-managment try to throw any dodgy looking riders under the bus before the rider can do it to them?

Quick, somebody get Johan a book deal!

I notice Levi's wikipedia page makes no mention of these allegations by HMH, or the Floyd allegations, and also has a new mention on Levi's US Crit Champ positive that the substance has been removed from the banned list, thus giving the impression that it was no big deal, and would not even be noticed today. Levi is clean, y'all!

 

[la.margna]

HMH decided he couldn't risk being sued by Levi, so he left him in the TdF, then allowed him to start the Deutschland Tour a month later?

If the guy was about to fail a drug test at any time, which would bring about the financial ruin of the team and owner, why let him start the DT?

Something isn't adding up here......

Germany is THE MARKET for Gerolsteiner. So how come he should kick the highest paid best rider in great shape out of the team for the important home tour? Particularly as he tried to convince the sponsor at that time to stay with the team? As in most cases, at the end it is often about $$$$$$$$

Of course it isn't adding up. It's Holczer, the man who signed Rebellin in a belief that he was a clean cyclist despite the 2001 Giro razzia. .

yes, hired Rebellin, the guy who was even filmed while injecting EPO.

 

[BroDeal]

I think the most interesting thing about this is further confirmation that the UCI uses back channels to warn teams about riders without busting them. The UCI is complicit in the riders' doping.

 

[editedbymod]

I think the most interesting thing about this is further confirmation that the UCI uses back channels to warn teams about riders without busting them. The UCI is complicit in the riders' doping.

Very similar to the Hamilton case.

He received several "please explain" blood vaules type letter before being pinged.

 

[Beech Mtn]

I think the most interesting thing about this is further confirmation that the UCI uses back channels to warn teams about riders without busting them. The UCI is complicit in the riders' doping.

+1. If you're in the "in crowd" you're safe. If you're an outsider, or from a less favored nation, or on a less significant team, you're toast. And not only are you toast, but you will be used by the powers-that-be as an example of how they are winning the crusade against doping while they protect their big stars.

 

[ManInFull]

That was a "Landis" year....

Reviewing the details of this story, I think one could assemble the blood profiles of a "certain man from Texas", going so far as to re-test all of his stored blood, to create a retro bio-passport and review Armstrong.

I think that would be something Mr. Novitsky would find interesting.

Poor Levi, even with the best doping programs in the world over the years and he could not win the big one, even with a decimated 2006 field and really only Menchov and Landis with which to contend.

Now, wouldn't it be great if Levi said "F*** it!" and held a press conference and told everything that he know? I'm waiting with bated breath...

 

[Colm.Murphy]

Now, wouldn't it be great if Levi said "F*** it!" and held a press conference and told everything that he know? I'm waiting with bated breath...

Oh, I have a feeling he will fold like paper into an envelope if he is subpoenaed.

 

[Highlander]

I think people fall in love with the rider's personality and it blurs their judgement causing the "well at least he didn't do it too much" reaction. A person can blood dope and still be the nicest person in the world. This only makes it worse when the truth surfaces.

Who can fall in love with Levi's personality because he simply doesn't have one? Maybe he was doping to just try to become an interesting person

 

[Oldman]

It's utterly amazing to sit here and watch this unfold.

But oh, right, doping in 1996 really wasn't indicative of a propensity towards any particular pattern of behavior...

Bravo, Holczer! That he reveals the information in a book is completely immaterial. You guys who are breaking his balls for publishing these revelations in a book are the same dudes who break FLandis's balls for conveying his accusations via email.

And this information has been in Novitsky's hands, I'd guess. Confirmation of this event at San Francisco airport: Levi arrived from Europe yesterday and was greeted with a comprehensive Customs search. All things, all persons. Nothing found but the directive came from above US Customs service. Oh...then they handed him a subpoena.

 

[Kennf1]

HMH decided he couldn't risk being sued by Levi, so he left him in the TdF, then allowed him to start the Deutschland Tour a month later?

If the guy was about to fail a drug test at any time, which would bring about the financial ruin of the team and owner, why let him start the DT?

Something isn't adding up here......

But what test was he going to fail? This was before the biopassport was in full swing, so as long as his hematocrit was under 50, and he was doing autologous transfusions, he would be okay.

Does anyone know if the UCI had authority, in 2005, to sanction a rider based on the off-score rather than the hematocrit threshold?

 

[Colm.Murphy]

And this information has been in Novitsky's hands, I'd guess. Confirmation of this event at San Francisco airport: Levi arrived from Europe yesterday and was greeted with a comprehensive Customs search. All things, all persons. Nothing found but the directive came from above US Customs service. Oh...then they handed him a subpoena.

Are you the one confirming the above? Or are you asking for confirmation?

 

[python]

I think the most interesting thing about this is further confirmation that the UCI uses back channels to warn teams about riders without busting them. The UCI is complicit in the riders' doping.

this is certainly true. but 'the most important thing' here is what editedbymod quoted from flandis' email in his/her post up-thread - a corroboration of his blood doping accusations that match the year and the circumstances to a 't'.

@colm
+1. recall my thread from several months back - levi is a puss that's all that needs to be said even if his attorney is holding a talk with the texas attorney. pussies are good material for singing.

@editedbymod last post
this is a bit more damning than the hamilton's letter from the uci. the factor of damning is over 10 in scientific terms. because hct level <50% was a predecessor of offscore model adopted and written into the uci regs.

 

[Oldman]

Are you the one confirming the above? Or are you asking for confirmation?

Someone in the Customs team passed this on. I wasn't there.

 

[BroDeal]

And this information has been in Novitsky's hands, I'd guess. Confirmation of this event at San Francisco airport: Levi arrived from Europe yesterday and was greeted with a comprehensive Customs search. All things, all persons. Nothing found but the directive came from above US Customs service. Oh...then they handed him a subpoena.

Yowza! That is a tough position for Leipheimer to be in. Does he decide to clam up and take the fifth and incur the wrath of Novitsky and the prosecutor, hoping the investigation won't go anywhere? Or does he tell the truth and incur the wrath of his current employers?

 

[Oldman]

Yowza! That is a tough position for Leipheimer to be in. Does he decide to clam up and take the fifth and incur the wrath of Novitsky and the prosecutor, hoping the investigation won't go anywhere? Or does he tell the truth and incur the wrath of his current employers?

What if he doesn't have an employer based on the subpoena? RS could spin this as something that happened separately and any evidence he supplied would be fictitious, you know...like Floyd's fantasies. Being served was inevitable so RS/LA must have their strategy sorted out. Bottle is in between the rock, a hard place and another hard place.

 

[BroDeal]

I'd be curious to know what Landis's off-score was in the '06 Tour when his hematocrit was 48.5.

His e-mail indicates that he was manipulating his reticulocytes with microdoses of EPO. As I understand it, this would keep his off score in a valid range.

 

[Publicus]

This is big. This is the very first public corroboration of Landis's story in regards to 2005. It's a very important part of the story.

Recall:
2005: I had learned at this point how to do most of the transfusion
technicals and other things on my own so I hired Allen Lim as my assistant
to help with details and logistics. He helped Levi Leipheimer and I prepare
the transfusions for Levi and I and made sure they were kept at the proper
temperature. We both did two seperate transfusions that Tour however my
hematocrit was too low at the start so I did my first one a few days before
the start so as to not start with a deficit.

Good point.

 

[BroDeal]

What if he doesn't have an employer based on the subpoena? RS could spin this as something that happened separately and any evidence he supplied would be fictitious, you know...like Floyd's fantasies. Being served was inevitable so RS/LA must have their strategy sorted out. Bottle is in between the rock, a hard place and another hard place.

Sounds like a way for RS to p!ss Leipheimer off and ensure that he talks, which illustrates the situation Armstrong and Bruyneel are in. If they distance themselves from the inner circle of riders, they radically increase the likelihood of those people cooperating.

 

[Colm.Murphy]

But what test was he going to fail? This was before the biopassport was in full swing, so as long as his hematocrit was under 50, and he was doing autologous transfusions, he would be okay.

Does anyone know if the UCI had authority, in 2005, to sanction a rider based on the off-score rather than the hematocrit threshold?

I don't think the UCI could sanction for blood values alone.

Funny, even when a guy has the most suspicious of values, he is still not caught. The Landis program worked for Levi.

If HMH chose risking a positive test, over the legal battle that could have come from benching a rider, then he clearly knew what was going on and chose the least risky path. For HMH to be so indignant over the doping, it belies his actions in the face of it.