What about Levi?
 

If Leipheimer hadn't rogered his wrist where do you think he'd have finished?

I suspect he'd have been strong enough to bump LA off the podium, but would have bowed to pressure to yield and slot in 4th.

During the Giro he was clearly stronger than LA, but during the Tour LA has become fitter, but was LL tiring?

Do you think LA could have beaten LL on merit?

I thought Lance was stronger at the end of the Giro. It seemed like Lance was waiting for him on those third week hill top finishes.

I think Levi probably would have bumped Lance off the podium at the ITT. Who knows...hopefully Levi can make it to Leadville.

Well, at that stage of his comeback, it would have been excellent psychological therapy on Levi's part to do that purposely to encourage his "patient". They seem close enough friends for Levi to have done that.

I doubt Levi was genuinely being outpaced, he finished the 2008 Vuelta second to Bert, and pushing him so hard that AC complained, and the Vuelta was quite lumpy.

LL finished 6th in the Giro d'I, six minutes ahead of LA in 12th.

I think he had LA's number in the Tour.

My guess is he would have been in the AC and AS break on Ventoux trying to slow it down to lift LA onto the podium.

Am I wrong, is LL more assertive than I give him credit for?

That's the MTB race that triggered LA to return to the peloton isn't it?

Well, if LL wants to enter I'm sure he'll be able to with a lightweight cast... carbon fibre!

Do you think he'll sign with Team Radio Shack, it has the potential to be signing away his GT winning options.

Doesn't he deserve to be Team Leader elsewhere?

The thing with Leadville is, the guy that wins every year is seemingly unbeatable - Dave Wiens. Floyd Landis tried, Lance tried and Lance and Levi have said they are coming this year to beat him, but we will see. Lance had a carbon bike last year and it didn't matter, Wiens is a machine.

From what I have read/heard about Levi all he really cares deeply about is winning the Tour of California. Next year the ToC gains prestige and competes with the Giro. I have to assume he will get his chances to be GC, but it seems doubtful at the Tour.

I recall there was another MTB race after Leadville last year in which LA did beat Wiens, who gave the excuse that he entered at short notice and hadn't been doing enough interval training.

Well we'll see how ambitious LL really is when the RS team roster is finalized.

But let's not forget that this was the 96th Tour, and LL would be in his prime for the 100th.

levi is past his prime. he'll be 36 next year. if he hasn't won a GT by now he never will. and i am a levi fan.

ed rader

:lol:

Levi was caught in the cross-wind split, and was about 30 sec. down to Lance iirc. I don't think he would have picked up 30 sec. in the ITT, so would have likely been fighting Wiggins and Kloden for 4th.

Ohh he's 35 already! So he'll be 39 years old for the 100th Tour. Indeed, well past his prime.

So being "old", joining Team Radio Shack will not be such a sacrifice.

This does not compute. If the ToC is competing with the Giro, *less* top international riders will show up, not more.

While May is obviously a better time for the ToC from a weather perspective, I'm not sure how things will work out in the long run.

I think the ToC has a good chance to grow and become a more interesting race, I just don't see a path for it to become as storied as the big three are right now. With many of the big name riders only targeting one or two grand tours each year, trying to add a fourth might be difficult.

It's early days.

There should be much more effort to make a classic GT in North America, especially with the Canadian-US West Coast topography.

Not the easiest of times to find sponsors (will the ToC winners receive IoUs instead of cheques?), but the campaigns to reduce petrol consumption and shocking US profligacy would combine well with the cycling and health theme.

Cycling related sales are already up 20-25% this year in the UK following their Olympic successes.

let's see him race the vuelta again. always fun to have a decent gc american in there...

LL is a really good TTer, a decent climber - yet has no killer instinct in the Grand Tours. I thought that in the Giro he just couldn't or wouldn't go when others did.
He focuses on the ToC and should have an easier time with less competition. As long as he gets enough team support.
I think the ToC is committing suicide by changing dates. In late May the Sierra passes are still closed with snow. I'd like to see a mountaintop finish in the ToC; they've lacked that so far. Don't know where they'd do one, maybe a Tahoe area ski resort.

Hell I wish Chris Horner could have been there. All that training for nothing.