# Tour of Switzerland (Spoiler)



## thechriswebb (Nov 21, 2008)

Levi wins!

http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news?slug=ap-tourofswitzerland


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## 55x11 (Apr 24, 2006)

thechriswebb said:


> Levi wins!
> 
> http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news?slug=ap-tourofswitzerland


nice job by Levi, didn't think he could pull it off, but it would have been nice to see him attack and win a stage or put some serious time into Cunego during mountain stages. Let's hope for good things for Levi and Horner during TdF.


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## harlond (May 30, 2005)

I figured Levi would move onto the podium, but I never imagine Cunego could lost that much time. Kudos to Levi, big win for him.


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## thechriswebb (Nov 21, 2008)

I know that Cunego was worried about it. He has been saying for a few days that he was worried about Leipheimer in the final TT and has been frustrated that he couldn't put more time into him in the mountain stages. 

By the way, Radioshack looks very good this year.


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## coop (Jun 8, 2008)

Congrats to Levi, but boy is he a boring rider to watch. Tactically it works for him, it's just kind of painful to watch.

Are we witnessing the first ever Tour de France for Mr. Tom Danielson? A very surprising 5th in the TT and 9th overall. Had it not been for that untimely mechanical, he may have even been able to challenge the top 5. He was fun to watch in stage 7, just kept attacking.


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## Gnarly 928 (Nov 19, 2005)

coop said:


> Congrats to Levi, but boy is he a boring rider to watch. Tactically it works for him, it's just kind of painful to watch.
> 
> I dunno about that..boring to watch. Watching someone win is always pretty interesting...even if they win with whatever it takes to do it...like whatever is required.
> 
> ...


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## spookyload (Jan 30, 2004)

I don't think they are sandbagging. I just think they haven't bothered learning anything from Spartacus. It was awesome watching the race against the clock tear Cunego apart. Leopard/Trek might have burned a bridge for no reason yesterday with their stunt to get Frank third overall for less than 24 hours.


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## thechriswebb (Nov 21, 2008)

spookyload said:


> I don't think they are sandbagging. I just think they haven't bothered learning anything from Spartacus. It was awesome watching the race against the clock tear Cunego apart. Leopard/Trek might have burned a bridge for no reason yesterday with their stunt to get Frank third overall for less than 24 hours.


I agree about yesterday's stunt. Seems a little hypocritical....


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## JSR (Feb 27, 2006)

RadioShack would seem to be going into the TdF with guns a-blazin'. Depending on who they bring to the dance they have four or five top-ten candidates (Horner, Leipheimer, Jani, Klodi, the Portugese climbing guy), plus the Robbies for entertainment value.

The big question will be whether JB can forge all that talent into something useful.

JSR


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## Sablotny (Aug 15, 2002)

Hooray for our Home Town Hero Levi. I agree with both of youze - he can be boring to watch, but he knows what he's doing, riding to his strengths and always thinking about the bottom line: how can I win this overall? Hoping the Shack is not going to pull a classic Telekom and show up in July with a roster of talented riders all battling - each other. I think they're too mature and friendly for that. "Portuguese climbing guy" - Tiago Machado? I'm counting on him to be their Vino, stirring things up with wild attacks here and there. Horner says he's only intimidated by Contador and Andy in the climbs - I sure hope its true.


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## JSR (Feb 27, 2006)

Sablotny said:


> "Portuguese climbing guy" - Tiago Machado?


That's the one. Thanks. He has a pretty good TT, too.

JSR


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## orange_julius (Jan 24, 2003)

What's up with Levi Leipheimer refusing to attend the post-race conference?

http://velonews.competitor.com/2011...de-suisse-as-cancellara-takes-final-tt_179291



> Leipheimer, who refused to attend a post-race press conference, added: “I had good days and bad days this week. It was a very hard Tour of Switzerland.”


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## harlond (May 30, 2005)

orange_julius said:


> What's up with Levi Leipheimer refusing to attend the post-race conference?


Plane to catch?



spookyload said:


> I don't think they are sandbagging. I just think they haven't bothered learning anything from Spartacus. It was awesome watching the race against the clock tear Cunego apart. Leopard/Trek might have burned a bridge for no reason yesterday with their stunt to get Frank third overall for less than 24 hours.


After today, I wonder if they actually were riding for Fuglsang. If not, they should have been.


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## JohnHenry (Aug 9, 2006)

Really happy with this result!

Way to go LL!


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## Italophile (Jun 11, 2004)

I shall never understand why this little guy gets so little love. Compare his palmares to ...Oh, I don't know, crybaby Andy Schleck maybe? 

Well done, Levi! You're a winner, a professional, and a gentleman. :thumbsup:


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## thechriswebb (Nov 21, 2008)

Italophile said:


> I shall never understand why this little guy gets so little love. Compare his palmares to ...Oh, I don't know, crybaby Andy Schleck maybe?
> 
> Well done, Levi! You're a winner, a professional, and a gentleman. :thumbsup:



Agreed.


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## waldo425 (Sep 22, 2008)

Italophile said:


> I shall never understand why this little guy gets so little love. Compare his palmares to ...Oh, I don't know, crybaby Andy Schleck maybe?
> 
> Well done, Levi! You're a winner, a professional, and a gentleman. :thumbsup:


I thought it was a good show of sportsmanship when he hugged Cunego and said something like sorry man. 

I also thought it was funny when Cunego sat down and started to unzip, sees the camera lets out a shocked little noise and moves the camera.


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## hansonator69 (Apr 20, 2011)

Anyone notice those extra short tailed helmets Garmin riders were using during the TT?


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

*yes*



Italophile said:


> I shall never understand why this little guy gets so little love. Compare his palmares to ...Oh, I don't know, crybaby Andy Schleck maybe?
> 
> Well done, Levi! You're a winner, a professional, and a gentleman. :thumbsup:


he's not an explosive climber, he never will be

he hangs on and makes time where he can and gets results

I don't find it boring watching him kill himself trying to mitigate his losses on the climbs so he can crush folks in the TT

well done Mr L, well done


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## baker921 (Jul 20, 2007)

Great job by LL, he did the best he could with the tools he had. But there will be more and bigger mountains in the Tour, so for me he's not a contender.


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## BAi9302010 (Mar 7, 2002)

baker921 said:


> Great job by LL, he did the best he could with the tools he had. But there will be more and bigger mountains in the Tour, so for me he's not a contender.


There's also only one ITT and it's at the end of the race. The Tour route this year is better suited to Horner and Jani than Levi or Kloden.


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## ghostryder (Dec 28, 2009)

Any videos.


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

hansonator69 said:


> Anyone notice those extra short tailed helmets Garmin riders were using during the TT?


a few other teams have designs like that. my guess is k-wing ideas. a lil less weight and might be more balanced. im sure when the tour starts up there will be more tech talk.


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

i dont see levi as a three week rider. his time for that was when he was surrounded by less-than-stellar talent at gerolstiener. and armstrong was still racing. i still feel bad for him for the time vino snatched some points on an intermediate sprint on the road into paris, stealing the 5th spot from levi.

sad trombone.

i do like seeing levi and horner working together.


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

*I've said for years*



weltyed said:


> i dont see levi as a three week rider. his time for that was when he was surrounded by less-than-stellar talent at gerolstiener. and armstrong was still racing. i still feel bad for him for the time vino snatched some points on an intermediate sprint on the road into paris, stealing the 5th spot from levi.
> 
> sad trombone.
> 
> i do like seeing levi and horner working together.


he should focus on key 1 week races and make that his career


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## spookyload (Jan 30, 2004)

atpjunkie said:


> he should focus on key 1 week races and make that his career


I agree 100% with this statement. He always seems to have something come up at the end. Stomach virus or the likes.


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## AJL (Jul 9, 2009)

atpjunkie said:


> he's not an explosive climber, he never will be
> 
> he hangs on and makes time where he can and gets results
> 
> ...


Agreed!  Levi looked like a finely crafted piece of German engineering on his bike, Cunego looks like he hadn't even looked at his TT bike in a year.


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## Cycleyes (Jun 14, 2011)

I was surprised L did not take the TOC. It was fun to see him eek out the win in the TT.


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## 55x11 (Apr 24, 2006)

BAi9302010 said:


> There's also only one ITT and it's at the end of the race. The Tour route this year is better suited to Horner and Jani than Levi or Kloden.


it doesn't matter much if ITT is at the end, as TdS clearly showed. I wouldn't dismiss Levi so easily - he could be peaking just at the right time, while Horner could have peaked too early for ToC. In grand tours Levi has a much better track record, even though he does tend to have a bad day or two in the third week. Even then, he and Klodi have a more impressive resume in grand tours and should not be discounted. Jani - I am not so sure about. He was great at Daphine last year but hasn't done much since then to put himself on the map.

I also think we cannot blame Levi for winning TdS the way he did, organizers should be blamed instead. The entire GC was re-shuffled during final ITT, the climbing stages were obviously not decisive enough. If ITT was before mountain stages we would all be saying how Levi build a lead in ITT and easily defended it in the mountains.


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