Feb 18, 2009 0
A view of Levi Leipheimer’s crash yesterday at the Tour of California. Just goes to show that you should always watch the wheel in front of you no matter what. Looks like Levi is OK after that crash since he reported that the pain went away and he was able to finish the stage with the main group.
Sep 21, 2008 0
REUTERS/Felix Ordonez
Look out Lance, Astana has a multiple Grand Tour winner on the roster. Alberto Contador became one of five people to ever win all three Grand Tours. Contador won the Giro and Vuelta this year after missing out on defending his Tour de France title in July due to some odd reasoning by the A.S.O. Contador’s win was a sealed in the previous weekend with the fearsome stage finish at the steepest climb of the L’Angrilu. Contador blasted away most of the major contenders including a tiring Carlos Sastre who was mentally tired from a Tour de France win and a long season. The toughest competition came from Astana teammate Levi Leipheimer who lit up the penultimate stage TT with a win, and chopped down Contadors lead.
Sep 3, 2008 0
The battle of multiple stage winning Spaniards got a twist as Levi Leipheimer took over the Vuelta lead after a brilliant time trial performance in the Vuelta’s fifth stage. Alberto Contador is sitting down in fourth place, while Alejandro Valverde is in third.
Jul 24, 2008 0
The Road Diaries (SRAM’s excellent website/blog) has a live chat with Levi Leipheimer today at 12:30PM. Now that this exciting Tour is almost over, does Levi see himself riding as a contender next year? Ask away.
Jun 9, 2008 0
(AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)
Levi Leipheimer used his Giro Training camp form to get the top spot for the Dauphine Libere prologue. The American was riding some good form, while others such as Alejandro Valverde and Cadel Evans were using this race as the tune up for the Tour de France. The Dauphine is a good race for Leipheimer especially since he has some very good form to use and no real prospect for riding the Tour at this moment. The Astana team at least has some preparation for the race, so they can be ready to defend a lead if needed. The Dauphine is more interesting for the jockeying and staring down of Tour de France rivals. Cadel Evans and Alejandro Valverde will be using the chance to see how each other is doing in their run-up to the Tour.
Sep 30, 2007 0
Levi is rumored to be switching to Astana along with Johan Bruyneel and defending Tour champion Alberto Contador. Meanwhile he is living it up by eating “blue cheese crusted tenderloin of beef and chocolate mousse cake” in Utah.
Levi is asked about doping particularly the Landis case:
“Yep, that’s pretty much all we talk about,” he said, only half sarcastically over dinner. “I hope now that Floyd’s deal is kind of over, that we can move on. Everyone acts like we’re the dirtiest athletes in the world, when I think the reality is we are the cleanest. We get tested all the time. They show up at your door unannounced and test you. We’re tested before races and after races. We’re tested all the time.
“When someone gets caught it gets all the attention,” Leipheimer said. “But do you really think we’re dirtier than football players who hardly even get tested?”
Amen to that, it is a tough break that when doping in cycling is in the spotlight while many other sports either don’t testing or have very lax testing rules. Just because there is no testing does not mean that the sport is clean. Meanwhile NFL players get cortisone injections (which are banned in cycling and other Olympics sports) like they drink water.
Sep 13, 2007 0
The Discovery Channel Team continues to dominate the Tour of Missouri with Levi Leipheimer winning the Stage 3 time trial while George Hincapie keeps the GC lead coming in fifth place. The two teammates have been on the opposite sides of luck since Leipheimer came on board. Levi is enjoying a career best year with a Tour podium and the win at The Tour of California and US National Championship. Levi is a happy man despite not having a contract for next year. Meanwhile Big George has a contract with T-Mobile for 2008, but not because of his stellar results. Despite being US National Champ for 2007 Big George has been having troubles. Curiously, George and Levi seem to not be so buddy-buddy as they seemed to be last year when Levi sacrificed himself to allow George to win the US National Champs in his hometown.
Today’s stage proved to be an almost all Discovery showcase. Leipheimer lit up the course which he described as:
A lot of big rollers, I would call them. Middle climbs that required a different kind of rhythm. I had to punch it on all the middle climbs and recover on the downhills.
Hincapie was feeling the effort from the previous day, but still faired well with a sixth place finish that allows him to extend his lead.
“The legs weren’t great, I definitely felt my effort yesterday. Coming into the circuits yesterday was basically me against 10 guys, I had to control every attack. So I think I paid a little bit for it. But it was good, I was better than everybody in the break, and that’s all I had to do today.”
Stage four will probably be the toughest stage of the Tour with lots of hills and the longest distance of the race so far. Disco does have the strength to defend George’s title, but don’t count out all of the 12 breakaway men. David Canada and Will Frischkorn are close enough to George where they could still be dangerous.
Jul 29, 2007 0
Alberto Contador gave Discovery Channel and the Tour de France organization A.S.O. a surprise win today. The 24 year old Spaniard also won the white jersey of best young rider to boot. Hopefully he will avoid the same fate as the last man to wear Yellow and White in Paris, Jan Ullrich. Contador is more or less clear of any involvement in Operation Puerto. He had to comeback to racing from a near fatal blood clot in his head and now has a metal pate in his skull. His win could also boost Discovery Channel’s chance of finding a new sponsor for 2008. Not to mention the third place of Levi Leipheimer and the first podium of an Aussie ever. The Tour podium came out just as many fans and organizers had hoped, especially as the top three was oly separated by a slim 31 second margin.
Jul 28, 2007 0
The order of the top three in the Tour did not get shuffled, but everyone is closer in time. This will probably not matter as Levi has already declared he will not challenge Evans for the number to spot and pull a “Vinokourov” on him. The reference to Vino is from two years ago when Alexandre Vinokourov took fifth place from Levi Leipheimer by sprinting for bonus times on the final day. This is a day that is usually considered an off day for overall GC contenders. The sprint seconds are really meant for the Green Jersey contenders.
Jul 23, 2007 0
Wow the Albi TT was nothing but surprises all around.
Rasmussen does not meltdown or lose time. In fact he catches and passes his three minute man Alejandro Valverde.
Alejandro Valverde put in a time around Alessandro Ballan’s whoo must have been riding simply to get through the TT and hunt for stage wins in transitional stages. Valverde stunk up the road.
Fabian Cancellara crashes and does not win.
Lots of racers crash incluing Kloden, Gusev and others.
Vino crushes everyone to put in a memorable performance to come back in the contention for a breif time.
Levi Leipheimer does alright.
Alberto Contador is a contender for the Yellow Jersey possibly.
