# Levi - wtf



## bas (Jul 30, 2004)

Unless his brakes are rubbing - I can only guess he didn't get his blood transfusion on time or is missing a dosage.. 

He appears to be back to "normal".


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## randyg (Jul 7, 2004)

from cyclingnews live report.



> Christian Henn, directeur sportif at Gerolsteiner, confirms that Leipheimer has not had a mechanical problem. He doesn't know why Leipheimer's performance is so low today.


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## botto (Jul 22, 2005)

remember - he's a diesel, it takes awhile for him to warm up :wink:

seems to be a repeat of his dreadful TT at the end of last years TdF


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## snowman3 (Jul 20, 2002)

botto said:


> remember - he's a diesel, it takes awhile for him to warm up :wink:
> 
> seems to be a repeat of his dreadful TT at the end of last years TdF


The question isn't what we think, it's what Levi thinks. 5 minuts is a lot of time to make up. Let's see what he says in the post race interview. I'd call it a poor performance., but let's see what it does to his psyche.


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## botto (Jul 22, 2005)

kpcw said:


> He was dog slow, if he can spin that in an interview it still does not change the truth. Liars can figure, but figures don't lie.


dog slow for a pro who was a favorite in a TdF TT, but he could still kick all of our a$ses


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## mr meow meow (Jan 29, 2004)

*relevant?*



botto said:


> dog slow for a pro who was a favorite in a TdF TT, but he could still kick all of our a$ses



What does that have to do with anything. I find it funny when people defend the poor performance of a professional athelete by comparisons to us mere mortals. Completely irrelevant.

he was dog slow. Done deal. Game over.


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## Guest (Jul 8, 2006)

He looked completely blown at the end. Very strange.


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## rocco (Apr 30, 2005)

I don't know what happened to him but he's so 6 minutes, 5.46 seconds ago...


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## rocco (Apr 30, 2005)

deleted - dupe


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## Truth Hurts (Oct 28, 2005)

He crossed the line wiping his mouth, looked like a bad case of dry mouth, hydration?


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## rocco (Apr 30, 2005)

Truth Hurts said:


> He crossed the line wiping his mouth, looked like a bad case of dry mouth, hydration?



Now _that's_ an apropos user name...


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## Dan Gerous (Mar 28, 2005)

He had to be sick, he got beat by Mayo, Simoni and Rujano!


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## Argentius (Aug 26, 2004)

He got spanked by Tom Boonen...


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## OnTheRivet (Sep 3, 2004)

bas said:


> Unless his brakes are rubbing - I can only guess he didn't get his blood transfusion on time or is missing a dosage..
> 
> He appears to be back to "normal".


Eurosport is reporting that Levi was "visibly troubled" before the start of the TT. Hmmmm?


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## Coolhand (Jul 28, 2002)

I wonder if he was sick. Real easy to come down with something at a GT. Happens to a few contenders every year. 

Julich's poor riding suprised my, that was a Cat 5 move in that corner. Same thing happened last time the pressure was on him in the Tour. 

Big George did a poor job, looks like he should stick with Classics and helper duties.

Floyd looks like the real deal. Too bad his stupid team keeps using crappy equipment. Hint, after losing 8 seconds to a flat in the Prolog BEFOE YOU EVEN GOT TO THE LINE, don't use the same ones again. Yeesh, maybe he should go back to Discovery as leader as all the (so far flase) rumors. 

Not going to happen you think. Remember, several key riders for Phonak were suspended. New sponsor coming. His contract is expiring, and make no mistake Floyd wants to win multiple Tours while he can. Don't forget the golden rule either:

“What do you want from me? They drove a big dump truck full of money up to my house. I’m not made of stone.” - Krusty the Clown.


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## blackhat (Jan 2, 2003)

bas said:


> Unless his brakes are rubbing - I can only guess he didn't get his blood transfusion on time or is missing a dosage..
> 
> He appears to be back to "normal".


didn't one of TMob's team cars get stripped down by customs a couple days ago? maybe CSC got spooked and lightened their load of "recovery enhancements". maybe they all did, it would explain some results today. where's emma oreilly when disco needs her...


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## OnTheRivet (Sep 3, 2004)

blackhat said:


> didn't one of TMob's team cars get stripped down by customs a couple days ago? maybe CSC got spooked and lightened their load of "recovery enhancements". maybe they all did, it would explain some results today.


This is sounding more and more plausible.


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## rogger (Aug 19, 2005)

Argentius said:


> He got spanked by Tom Boonen...


Right now, there's about 50 million women jealous of Levi.  :wink:


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## Retro Grouch (Apr 30, 2002)

*Hmmm...maybe...*



OnTheRivet said:


> Eurosport is reporting that Levi was "visibly troubled" before the start of the TT. Hmmmm?


Odessa stopped by for a late night visit and zapped all his strength!!!


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## OneGear (Aug 19, 2005)

what is up with this guy.


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## Guest (Jul 8, 2006)

blackhat said:


> didn't one of TMob's team cars get stripped down by customs a couple days ago? maybe CSC got spooked and lightened their load of "recovery enhancements". maybe they all did, it would explain some results today. where's emma oreilly when disco needs her...


Yeah, given the "American" implosion in the TT I'm really wondering. Fuentes did say he still had clients in the TdF; maybe they are running on 'empty' now.


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## Mocat4 (Jul 7, 2006)

AJL said:


> Yeah, given the "American" implosion in the TT I'm really wondering. Fuentes did say he still had clients in the TdF; maybe they are running on 'empty' now.


I hate to admit it but that's the first thing that popped into my head too. <sigh> Will there ever come the day when we don't jump to that conclusion? :nonod:


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## chuckice (Aug 25, 2004)

Maybe just a bad day...maybe over training...maybe too much pressure. Likely some of all that. BEFORE race Interviews seem to show him clearly saying "I just want to limit my losses" thus he was already in his own head.


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## Guest (Jul 8, 2006)

chuckice said:


> Maybe just a bad day...maybe over training...maybe too much pressure. Likely some of all that. BEFORE race Interviews seem to show him clearly saying "I just want to limit my losses" thus he was already in his own head.


Yeah, I remember seeing something like that now. So something is up with him and he knows it. I guess it'll come out eventually, that or he'll retire...


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## triscuit (Sep 13, 2004)

I remember hearing or reading early in the tour that Levi might not do very well because he rode so hard in the Dauphine to win it--the reasoning was he did not expect to be able to compete against Basso, Ullrich, et. al. in the tour, so he put it all out there in a race they would not be trying to win, but was still prestigeous to gain kudos for his team.


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## tdennis (Jul 9, 2006)

*Levi was troubled before the TT start.*

In a video interview on Eurosport with Levi, he was asked about his expectations for the TT. Levi stated he did not expect to win the stage it was a matter of limiting his losses before the mountain stages. Know this sounds like a perfectly good answer but two things bothered me about his statement. First, it was not a very confident attitude. Second, he just looked like he was in some discomfort for some reason.

I thought it was a bad sign.


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## Dan Gerous (Mar 28, 2005)

AJL said:


> Yeah, given the "American" implosion in the TT I'm really wondering. Fuentes did say he still had clients in the TdF; maybe they are running on 'empty' now.


I thought that too sadly. While we all suspect most to be on some sort of 'not so legal' treatments, I'm sure the riders in the Tour that are clients of Fuentes must be quite scared right now, to the point where some might stop their 'treatments', even more so than clients of other doctors we don't know about. Of course, some top riders have had bad days in major races in the past even when there were no dope scandals. I guess we'll see in a few days.


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## ~David~ (Jul 2, 2006)

> I remember hearing or reading early in the tour that Levi might not do very well because he rode so hard in the Dauphine to win it--the reasoning was he did not expect to be able to compete against Basso, Ullrich, et. al. in the tour, so he put it all out there in a race they would not be trying to win, but was still prestigeous to gain kudos for his team.


I think that sounds about right if you ask me, Basso and Ullrich getting busted clearly wasn't expected. I doubt his poor results were him missing his blood doses. Many good riders besides levi didn't live up expectations, Hell loads of people had Landis pegged to win he didn't (Although that was probally due mechanical reasons). The mountains start on stage 10 so i figure that if levi _was_ doping it will be extremely clear then.


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## epic (Apr 16, 2005)

My 3 y.o. daughter seems to be a big fan of Levi. Once they said "he's in trouble" she was calling on Sportacus to help him "He need Sportacus!!!" (I'm sure someone here gets that). She was also trying to hand him a rope through the TV screen and help him herself. Looks like he needed it.


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## bas (Jul 30, 2004)

tdennis said:


> In a video interview on Eurosport with Levi, he was asked about his expectations for the TT. Levi stated he did not expect to win the stage it was a matter of limiting his losses before the mountain stages. Know this sounds like a perfectly good answer but two things bothered me about his statement. First, it was not a very confident attitude. Second, he just looked like he was in some discomfort for some reason.
> 
> I thought it was a bad sign.



I wonder if his team car timed the event too.. Maybe there was a start/finish time discrepancy?..


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## Mocat4 (Jul 7, 2006)

epic said:


> My 3 y.o. daughter seems to be a big fan of Levi. Once they said "he's in trouble" she was calling on Sportacus to help him "He need Sportacus!!!" (I'm sure someone here gets that). She was also trying to hand him a rope through the TV screen and help him herself. Looks like he needed it.


How appropriate....Sportacus's costume does include Gerlosteiner colors. Just out of curioisity, was the rope for Levi to lasso the rider in front or to hang himself? :wink: 

I agree with triscuits take, Levi may have put all his eggs into the Dauphine basket and now they're scrambled (and he's fried). Both his performance and his attitude have been lackluster since the tour began and I just don't see him pulling it together in the mourntains. I think he may pull it together enough to make top 10 but right now he seems to be lacking the drive neccessary for a podium finish.


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## goose127 (Jun 9, 2004)

I think it is possible that any of these guys falling way short of thier expectations could be due to doping, or the temporary lack there of. Certainly the microscope is out like never beforfe. In this morning's coverage Levi hinted that he might be a bit under the weather and his is hoping to recover. Regardless, I think Levi is probably about done. I was shaking my head after the prologue when he said he had not trained very hard after the Dauphine, certainly a strategy to come into the tour mabe overrested vs. overtrained. That looks to have been the wrong strategy.


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## Chase15.5 (Feb 17, 2005)

This is an interesting article where Levi is trying to explain what happened in the ITT. 

http://www.velonews.com/tour2006/news/articles/10299.0.html

It just sounds like he's mentally given up. I like Levi, but he's never seems to have that "aggressive" racing mentality in a grand tour.


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## harlond (May 30, 2005)

In the Velonews video, he says more than once that he's having a problem, I think he says of a common sort, that he's just got to get through. Whether that's some disease or condition, I don't know, but didn't sound like "just" a bad day. Of course, if it is a bug, hard to see why he wouldn't just say something like, "I had diarrhea all night" or whatever. Kinda mysterious. What kind of bug or other short duration condition could you have that would affect your performance but that you wouldn't want to admit you had?


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## bas (Jul 30, 2004)

harlond said:


> In the Velonews video, he says more than once that he's having a problem, I think he says of a common sort, that he's just got to get through. Whether that's some disease or condition, I don't know, but didn't sound like "just" a bad day. Of course, if it is a bug, hard to see why he wouldn't just say something like, "I had diarrhea all night" or whatever. Kinda mysterious. What kind of bug or other short duration condition could you have that would affect your performance but that you wouldn't want to admit you had?


He's not admitting to being a doping specialist. That's the only other thing possible.

Watch him lose big time in the mountains to the other guys on the stuff.


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## Dwayne Barry (Feb 16, 2003)

harlond said:


> What kind of bug or other short duration condition could you have that would affect your performance but that you wouldn't want to admit you had?


Maybe he's got a drug bust about to come down? Ben Berden was acting real strange for a couple of races and made some pretty bold statements ("the only reason Wellens and Nys are consistently better is because they have better medical programs") before his positive for EPO was announced.

Maybe his doc didn't show up with the goods? Anybody seen Odessa? Hopefully she's not sitting in a Spanish or French jail being questioned right now.

Or maybe he's just sick and doesn't want to talk about it for some odd reason? His result was spectacularly bad. For a guy who can TT like he can that wasn't just being off form.


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

if i recall, levi was sick earlier in this season. he had one great TT in california, right? and he did win dauphine. i know he burned the "matchsticks" there, but he doesnt seem recovered from whatever he had earlier this season. here are my guesses:

1) aint got no dope. i would like to think he doesnt dope, but nowadays im jaded and think all riders dope (i blame tyler. sorry, man, but i finally lost faith). goes with my belief that when riders have bad days and then magically recover to win, the "illness" or "injury" days were the scheduled days off to clear the system.

2) something is really wrong with his engine. whatever mystery illness he had earlier this season is still kickin around in there. i hope it's nothing serious.

3) the team isnt taking good enough care of him, both on the road and off the bike. he just worked too hard on the earlier stages. also, remember his loose handlebars in the dauphine? lack of trust in your team/machanics can really affect how you ride. ask horner about how feeling welcome on a team can affect your ride.

4) depression. it's great to hear someone tell the truth, but take a page from landis and dont tell ALL of EVERYTHING. i, too, remember him talking about how he wanted to win the dauphine and just do well in the tour. he seemed to believe he didnt have a great chance of winning the tour, so why not take the dauphine? 
i think the depression goes back to last year's ride into paris when vino snatched 5th. 
i also hope it doesnt have somethin to do with the home life. because that can really affect your riding.

5) after listening to his pre and post TT interviews, my wife quipped, "i guess he's just not enough of a pr!ck. you really need to be a pr!ck to win."


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## bas (Jul 30, 2004)

I timed it .. I was 30 seconds quicker at 1:07:25 vs his finish of 1:07:49.

I some how lost 15 seconds at the 2:00 minute check point they showed on him (I had 1:45).

I can only guess his start house departure was taped 15 seconds earlier or 30 seconds earlier with the 2:00 minute check delayed 15 seconds and the finish 15 more seconds. - or something like this. 

But the other guy behind him did pass him.


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## Shockee (Feb 12, 2004)

Well I wonder if all the hounding by Specialized interviewers impeded his privacy so he couldn't inject the dope on time?


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## ChilliConCarnage (Jun 1, 2006)

After today's performance, If I were Levi, I'd abandon and start getting ready for the Vuelta. Don't end the season on such a bad note.....


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