So what happened to the hair-follicle-challenged Levi in the TT?

[Sincitycycler]

???. He looked like my dad going uphill on his 45 lbs Schwinn Varsity in the TDF TT yesterday?

Something about this guy gets under my skin...don't know what. :mad:

Bald guy wearing powder blue girlie-man kit gets to tap hot ex-mountain bike racer, maybe...;)

[C_Heath]

They said they were gonna get to the bottom of it and I never heard anything else. He one of my favs behind capie and landis!

[Doctor Who]

On second thought, this thread is ridiculous.

[rufvelo]

COmmon, he just had a bad day. That 1mph less than the rest for whatever reason, and suddenly everyone writes him off? Who can guarantee Honchar's performance in the next TT? Maybe he will repeat, maybe he won't.

Amazing how quickly everyone shifts favorites, like so many wrote off Hincapie after yesterday. How much better is new favorite Kloden going to be in the mountains?

[voltman]

COmmon, he just had a bad day. That 1mph less than the rest for whatever reason, and suddenly everyone writes him off? Who can guarantee Honchar's performance in the next TT? Maybe he will repeat, maybe he won't.

Amazing how quickly everyone shifts favorites, like so many wrote off Hincapie after yesterday. How much better is new favorite Kloden going to be in the mountains?

"Come on"

or

"C'mon"

[rufvelo]

"Come on"

or

"C'mon"

You know I really meant 'COmmon'. Real question is - Is it Honchar or Gontchar, Sergei, OR Sergey? :)

[Helmet Head]

Levi's prologue performance was also off (36th at 21 seconds). After that he said he hadn't been training much since the Dauphine. That made no sense to me. The biggest race of the year and he didn't train much???

Now he loses 6 minutes (5 to Floyd) in the TT. His remarks this time (on OLN) were something vague about not feeling well and hoping to get better soon but knowing that's hard to do.

I hate to say it, but it sure seems like he's just not drinking the same brand of orange juice that he was using, I mean drinking, during the Dauphine. Floyd, on the other hand, didn't seem to be using the right stuff during the Dauphine (losing over 10 minutes on just one mountain stage), but now seems to have the right concoction going...

It's almost like Levi used all his stored blood reserves during the Dauphine while Floyd saved his for the Tour...

[voltman]

You know I really meant 'COmmon'. Real question is - Is it Honchar or Gontchar, Sergei, OR Sergey? :)

Didn't Gonchar play for the Capitals?

[Helmet Head]

Different Sergei Gonchar.

[DogBoy]

I thought Floyd was the new favorite?

[CyLowe97]

OLN doesn't have time to follow up with someone selling German mineral water. It cuts into their Discovery Channel updates...

In any case, check out the video page at VeloNews. Scroll down and there is about 4 minutes worth of Levi saying he just had a bad day / no excuses. http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/10206.0.html

[Helmet Head]

OLN doesn't have time to follow up with someone selling German mineral water. It cuts into their Discovery Channel updates...

In any case, check out the video page at VeloNews. Scroll down and there is about 4 minutes worth of Levi saying he just had a bad day / no excuses. http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/10206.0.html
Isn't Discovery Channel a competitor of OLN? Why would they favor them over Levi and Gerolsteiner?

At any rate, saying he "just had a bad day / no excuses" begs the question: what happened? This is the worst time trial he's ever had, and he has no idea why? I don't buy it. Plus, on the OLN interview he did make those vague comments about not feeling that great and hoping to feel better soon.

Starting with Floyd getting Phonak to chase down a break in the Dauphine (which helped Levi) and then bonking himself at the foot of the climb, this whole thing is very fishy. I wondered back then if Floyd was throwing the race in order to help Levi win the Daupine in order to get similar help from Levi in the Tour. But, I was just being cynical and joking. Now I'm not so sure I was that far off.

[CyLowe97]

Isn't Discovery Channel a competitor of OLN? Why would they favor them over Levi and Gerolsteiner?


Have you seen Bob Roll decked out in Disco kit in the Trek sweepstakes commercials that run every 10 minutes during the OLN broadcasts?

For some reason, people think LANCE = USA = DISCOVERY, so OLN has followed that tack for a while now, even though George is the only American on their Tour team.

However, I do think they have been more even-handed in covering the Americans each day than in the past. Yes, they are focusing on the US riders, but that is understood, being as OLN is broadcasting to a US audience.

That's one reason I check out the daily videos out on places like VeloNews.com. They interview riders and don't just edit them down to two question / two vague-answer sound-bites. The internet is sometimes a useful tool...