Originally Posted by
GV27
Levi's one of the best American cyclists of all time and I keep hearing "he sucks, he's a clown". Yeah - uh-huh. It's Super-Lance or nothing, right? 95% of the pro peloton would LOVE to have his palmeres. He's one of only three Americans to captain a major European team and not subsequently get popped for doping (other two being Greg LeMond and Bobby Julich). If he didn't focus so hard on the Tour he certainly could take out one of the other Grand Tours. He's won several smaller ProTour stage races.
I bet most of the folks chiming in with this clown crap have never even heard of Andy Hampsten. No Tour win. He must have been a nobody.
I'd agree that Leipheimer gets critcized unfairly, simply because he's not the dominant Grand Tourer rider that Armstrong was.
However, I think it's arguable whether Leipheimer is "one of the best American Cyclists of All Time" Deffinitely top ten, but not at the very top.
Off hand, I'd have to put Armstrong, Lemond, Hampsten, Hamilton, Landis (setting aside drug issues), and Phinney ahead of him. Then I think you could argue about where he fits around Julich, Hincapie, and Zabriskie.