better TDF: evans or levi?

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sgrundy

Point of fact: Evans won the time trial at Albi.

USAZorro

Pretty much a dead heat. If there had been one more mountain stage, Levi would get the edge.

erader

Point of fact: Evans won the time trial at Albi.

you mean by default?

ed rader

erader

Pretty much a dead heat. If there had been one more mountain stage, Levi would get the edge.

i'll take third and the stage win any day...especially with the margin between the three winners being a statistical dead heat :eek:

ed rader

SunSwingsLow

Levi.

Only because I considered Evans a real GC threat for #1 and I didnt think that about Levi.

But yeah pretty damn close...and good question :)

sgrundy

you mean by default?

ed rader

Evans is the official winner of Stage 13 AFAIK. That's the day Vino failed the doping control.

So I say Evans, with 2nd place, 1 stage win, and the fact that he wasn't completely overshadowed by a his lieutenant.

However, neither of them seemed very happy to me on the podium.

erader

Evans is the official winner of Stage 13 AFAIK. That's the day Vino failed the doping control.

So I say Evans, with 2nd place, 1 stage win, and the fact that he wasn't completely overshadowed by a his lieutenant.

However, neither of them seemed very happy to me on the podium.

so who won the 2006 tour :eek:?

i think you know as well as i do that vino still has the stage win and the process could take awhile and could still exonerate him.

besides i'm talking about today....because tomorrow any one of the three top guys could turn up positive.

ed rader

SunSwingsLow

Levi certainley had the MUCH larger pay day.

erader

Levi certainley had the MUCH larger pay day.

that's what i'm talking about.

levi praised his performance and his team after the race.

evans apologized to his team and fans, took out a lawsuit against astana and looked like he sucked on a pickle :eek:!

ed rader

Crash716

I think Levi could have won it had he pushed more..but that's kinda obvious huh...i think he was just too conservative....seriously though...dude got 3rd in the TDF only 31 seconds behind....with the exception of the TT's the race was won by the peleton other than Vino and The Chicken...and they are both gone...i think Contador won by default as he was there to punish those two and then they dropped out...really just good plays by Discovery and a little luck with 2 guys getting booted.

sgrundy

so who won the 2006 tour :eek:?
i think you know as well as i do that vino still has the stage win and the process could take awhile and could still exonerate him.
ed rader

Ok, but you know as well as I do that Vino has a snowflake's chance in hell. For all intents and purposes the stage is Evans'.

Lithuania

I think Levi had the better tour. Both had a stage win in my eyes but levi finished second on that tough stage and ended up dropping evans while working for contador.

Kris Flatlander

I'd say Levi had a better Tour. He was better in the mountains than Cadel simply because he rode smarter. As well his TT win trumps Evan's because of a lil thing called "4th fastest TT evar!". Ya and Levi didn't Bi&%^ as much as Evans, he shot straight from the hip.

Sage23

urodacus

so who won the 2006 tour :eek:?

i think you know as well as i do that vino still has the stage win and the process could take awhile and could still exonerate him.

Not Flandis!!!

And just how do you get exonerated from having someone else's blood cells swimming around your capillaries?

erader

Not Flandis!!!

And just how do you get exonerated from having someone else's blood cells swimming around your capillaries?

that's funny because i didn't see evans celebrating the TT win. maybe contador will turn up positive on the final stage and evans will be awarded the MJ in a year or so...but what if cadel and contador turn up positive?

maybe that explains why levi was so happy about his tour performance because he knows that soon (year or so) he'll be named the winner of the 2007 TDF :eek:!

ed rader

aussie troy

Honestly, I think it was a disappointing tour for both (have to wonder what would have been if it were not for Rasmussen's doped . . . er . . . unbelievable performance).

That said, I think Levi had the better tour. But for a somewhat BS penalty, Levi finishes second.

somewhat BS penalty? Did you see the incident. He was blatantly pulled back towards the pack by the car. He was lucky to only be penalised 10 seconds in my opinion.

classic1

evans apologized to his team and fans, took out a lawsuit against astana and looked like he sucked on a pickle :eek:!

Evans did no such thing. His team is taking out the lawsuit

erader

Evans did no such thing. His team is taking out the lawsuit

yeah big difference :eek:.

ed rader

urodacus

erader: notice that pereiro is not walking around saying he won the 2006 TdF. fact is at the moment that nobody won it.

consider this for a moment: why did evans never jump out of the pack and sprint up the last 10 miles of a hill? perhaps because he wasn't doping?

so the very source of all the anti-evans comments (wheel sucker, no guts, etc) could actually be that he was not cheating, and surrounded by cheats like Vino and Rasmussen? (hey, they both used to be heroes of mine too, but now they're at the same level as litigation lawyers, corporate lawyers, music companies and advertising agencies).

Levi did a great time trial. i would be very disappointed but not surprised if disco was fingered for team-organised doping, but UNTIL THAT TIME, i will stand by him and say he did well in the TT, but have no support for him being the better racer. plus, he got pushed back to the front by his team car and only got pinged 10 seconds... way too lenient.

classic1

yeah big difference :eek:.

ed rader

I don't think Cadel Evans is the person calling the shots at Predictor-Lotto ed.:rolleyes:

oldsprinter

that's what i'm talking about.

levi praised his performance and his team after the race.

evans apologized to his team and fans, took out a lawsuit against astana and looked like he sucked on a pickle :eek:!

ed rader

Evans ALWAYS looks like he's sucked on a pickle.

I like the way he rides like a mortal. When I watch him hanging in there up the hills I feel like "If I could just be a bit more mentally tough I could do that too." Rubbish of course, but then, I'm not racing against Steegmans and Basque mountain goats.

Gromit

Levi had a better tour. If you take Rasmussen out out of the picture, I think Levi easily beats Evans. Evans barely hung in the Pyrenees while Levi wasted a ton of energy trying to break Rasmussen and help Contador. In essence, Levi had to ride for Contador while Evans rode for himself.

classic1

If you take Rasmussen out of the picture Evans would have been better placed. He wouldn't have had to react to Rasmussens attacks and smash himself.

As for LL trying to 'break' Rasmussen. LOL. LL didn't even look like going with Rasmussen when he attacked at any stage of the Tour until Rasmussens departure, little own try and break him. LL even got dropped on the first Alpine stage. LL did no work for Contador whatsoever except for a few short digs on the Aubisque - all he did was cover other riders. Oh, and Evans finished one place in front of Leipheimer.

Gromit

Well, on the Aubisque, if Contador and Leipheimer rode a steady tempo instead of attacking Rasmussen, they most certainly would have put more time into Evans (more than the 7 or so seconds Evans ended up beating Leipheimer) So, yes, Leipheimer's place was sacrificed to help Contador. That said, we'll never really know. It's fun to speculate.

classic1

You reckon? Leipheimer was dropped behind Evans at one stage on the Aubisque. Not once did he react to an acceleration. Not that he doesn't have any guts (hes a hard ******* IMO), but he couldn't jump because he's not an explosive climber. He rode tempo the whole climb. Without robochicken it would likely have been a more comfortable tempo all the way, Evans wouldn't have had to smash himself trying to hold Rasmussens wheel and would have lost less time.

Gromit

I agree to disagree :beer:

* jack *

Minus 100 points for whining. Levi wins.

acape

Minus 100 points for whining. Levi wins.

I think they are a dead heat in the whining department.

Paniolo

Evans placed higher, but if the question is who had the better tour vs. their pre tour potential it's no contest that Levi did much better than expected.

* jack *

I think they are a dead heat in the whining department.
I dunno, Levi seemed magnanimous; Cadel seemed to complain a lot.
Just my take, YMMV...

badsac

Discovery had a lot more support. Popovych rode a hell of a Tour setting the climbs up for Contador and Levi. Evans did the whole thing on his own and finished one place higher. That gives him the better Tour in my books.

roccobike

Levi went from #1 on his team to #2 and took it like a man and showed he was a good team player. Then comes back and puts himself in the #3 position in the TDF. I like the way he handled that, but they both turned in great performances.

Sage23

somewhat BS penalty? Did you see the incident. He was blatantly pulled back towards the pack by the car. He was lucky to only be penalised 10 seconds in my opinion.

Yeah, I saw the incident. Yeah, he got some help. But it happens all the time. Drafting the team vehicles is also a no-no, but lots of that going on too. Plus, if they really did have to make adjustments on the bike as stated (although I didn't notice a lot of adjustments going on), it makes it even more BS.

RockyMtnMerlin

Yeah, I saw the incident. Yeah, he got some help. But it happens all the time. Drafting the team vehicles is also a no-no, but lots of that going on too. Plus, if they really did have to make adjustments on the bike as stated (although I didn't notice a lot of adjustments going on), it makes it even more BS.
I like LL, but he clearly deserved that penalty.

Letour

I'm glad Evans did not win. He's a boring rider and a total wheel sucker. To win the grand tours you must attack and all the great champions attack. Levi attacked and cracked the (wheel sucker)Evans so he deserves to be on top.

Evans does not impress me one bit.