Is Landis a Lemon as Leader?

musette said:

Do members know how much Phonak is paying Landis?

Did Phonak do well in acquiring Landis at what, given Landis' limited career victories, was a generous contract? Is Landis up to a leadership role in a team, as opposed to his largely domestique duties at USPS (or at most shared leadership, in certain races)?

Here are Landis' recent accomplishments, from the Phonak website:

Palmarès 2003
Tour de France - Team Time Trial 1st
Vuelta - Team Time Trial 2nd
[Err, that means that he had no individual accomplishments in 2003 worth noting?]

Palmarès 2004
Algarve Tour 1st
Team Time Trial Tour de France 1st
Individual Time Trial Tour de France 4th
17th stage Tour de France 5th [the infamous stage for Landis]
Team Time Trial Vuelta a Espana 1st
Individual Time Trial Vuelta a Espana 3rd
Leader Vuelta a Espana [This is somewhat ambiguous, as to whether he was sole leader of USPS, which he was not, or leader in the sense of a yellow jersey wearer during certain stages of the Vuelta]

Jury's out on this.
But he wasnt brought in as a team leader - he was signed to be Tyler's understudy with a view to taking over when Tyler retired i think.
In terms of how much they pay him , Phonak are one of the richest teams in the sport.Thats how they got Tyler and all the other big names last year in the first place.All overpaid underachievers.Landis will probably be another if you want my opinion.

musette said:

Do members know how much Phonak is paying Landis?

Did Phonak do well in acquiring Landis at what, given Landis' limited career victories, was a generous contract? Is Landis up to a leadership role in a team, as opposed to his largely domestique duties at USPS (or at most shared leadership, in certain races)?

Here are Landis' recent accomplishments, from the Phonak website:

Palmarès 2003
Tour de France - Team Time Trial 1st
Vuelta - Team Time Trial 2nd
[Err, that means that he had no individual accomplishments in 2003 worth noting?]

Palmarès 2004
Algarve Tour 1st
Team Time Trial Tour de France 1st
Individual Time Trial Tour de France 4th
17th stage Tour de France 5th [the infamous stage for Landis]
Team Time Trial Vuelta a Espana 1st
Individual Time Trial Vuelta a Espana 3rd
Leader Vuelta a Espana [This is somewhat ambiguous, as to whether he was sole leader of USPS, which he was not, or leader in the sense of a yellow jersey wearer during certain stages of the Vuelta]

I know that the owner of Phonak truly loves the sport and I wish to see them do well, however I do not believe Landis is blessed with the skills that are necesary to achieve greatness.
He may have the heart for it but I do not believe he has that undefinable edge it takes to win consistently.
I hope he proves me wrong.

jhuskey said:

I know that the owner of Phonak truly loves the sport and I wish to see them do well, however I do not believe Landis is blessed with the skills that are necesary to achieve greatness.
He may have the heart for it but I do not believe he has that undefinable edge it takes to win consistently.
I hope he proves me wrong.

I'm not sure I think Landis is a winner -- or even a podium -- either, but in his defense, he can TT and climb and he has shown very consistent improvement over the last three years. I definitely think he has several top 10s in him.

Roadrash Dunc said:

Jury's out on this.
But he wasnt brought in as a team leader - he was signed to be Tyler's understudy with a view to taking over when Tyler retired i think.
In terms of how much they pay him , Phonak are one of the richest teams in the sport.Thats how they got Tyler and all the other big names last year in the first place.All overpaid underachievers.Landis will probably be another if you want my opinion.

Taking over when Tyler retires? Floyd's 29. There's only three years difference between the two.

Laggard said:

Taking over when Tyler retires? Floyd's 29. There's only three years difference between the two.

4 years difference. But even three is plenty long enough.

Laggard said:

Taking over when Tyler retires? Floyd's 29. There's only three years difference between the two.

Tyler is 33 or 34.If it wasnt for Tyler's 'predicament' he would have probably had 2 seasons left in him as Phonak TL , maybe even just one.Floyd would have taken over at age 30 or 31.Thats how the deal was done according to the media.Phonak get a 'respectable stop-gap' leader till they find the next Cunego for themselves and Landis gets his 2 year contract pay-day.
Phonak seem to be the 'nearly men' - if they get a great TL they can go places like CSC : and they have alot more cash than CSC.
Tyler was a late bloomer - perhaps Landis is too.

I was impressed with Landis last year putting in some good mountain stages and the ITT late in the TDF and then a good TT in the Vuelta. The one thing that sticks out for me is during all of his major stage racing he has always cracked at some point losing 10s of minutes. Granted when this happens he is usually pulling for the team, but my question is can he really finish a 3 week stage race at full intensity for the whole race.