Levi, the new big thing

hombredesubaru said:

Three weeks off the Tour at what most would acknowledge generally to be a low point after recovery from a stage race, Levi drops the big hammer on Ullrich, Evans et all and wins the steepest finish to any Pro Tour this year. He is clearly on form.

Maybe he was just dogging it in the press, but in an interview two days ago he was moaning about how hard it was to recover and come back after the Tour which was his only goal etc etc. Maybe he really DID know he was going great. I mean, he has been at top level since Dauphine. Maybe even underperformed a bit in the Tour. But hey, this is a comfirmation of his Vuelta podium. He could go on to win!

Now even Cyclingnews thinks it is "too bad" Toschning didnt win. I dont get it. Why should they take sides. I think it is freeking wonderful Levi won. He was the strongest and he desrved it. Deal with it!!!

cyclingnews.com:
Finally, with two clicks to go, small gaps opened up between the two Gerolsteiner riders and Ullrich and Evans. The crowds were huge on the mountain, and some people tried to push Ullrich, but the Gerolsteiners were too strong, leading by 20 seconds. Unfortunately for Totschnig, the Austrian's energy faded, and Leipheimer led the race alone under the red flag of the last kilometre, trying to put as much time between him and Ullrich as possible. A great victory for the American, but at the same time so unfortunate...

Well even levi said that he was sorry for his teammate Totschnig....cause he wanted to win the deutschland tour.

But it's competition......anyone watched it?

hombredesubaru said:

Now even Cyclingnews thinks it is "too bad" Toschning didnt win. I dont get it. Why should they take sides. I think it is freeking wonderful Levi won. He was the strongest and he desrved it. Deal with it!!!

cyclingnews.com:
Finally, with two clicks to go, small gaps opened up between the two Gerolsteiner riders and Ullrich and Evans. The crowds were huge on the mountain, and some people tried to push Ullrich, but the Gerolsteiners were too strong, leading by 20 seconds. Unfortunately for Totschnig, the Austrian's energy faded, and Leipheimer led the race alone under the red flag of the last kilometre, trying to put as much time between him and Ullrich as possible. A great victory for the American, but at the same time so unfortunate...

Wow...sounds like it would have been worth the watch.

This is a very, very short recap of the stage......just click on the right side:

nos.nl18081624leipheimerwinnaarkoninginnerit.htmlOpen ↗

If you click on the leftside wielrennen you will get more video's of the tour of deutschland and thomas dekkers victory!

rule62 said:

Wow...sounds like it would have been worth the watch.

What odds are we giving to Jan pulling back 56 seconds in 31km monday?

If you could understand dutch then you would know what the commentator had said: 'it looks like Ullrich can't win the deutschland tour, cause the gap is allready to big!'

Besides Leipheimer can TT pretty well.....look at dauphine!

wilmar13 said:

What odds are we giving to Jan pulling back 56 seconds in 31km monday?

MJtje said:

If you could understand dutch then you would know what the commentator had said: 'it looks like Ullrich can't win the deutschland tour, cause the gap is allready to big!'

Besides Leipheimer can TT pretty well.....look at dauphine!

Yeah that is what I was implying, Jan is hosed unless he has a great day AND Levi rides like Rasmussen in a TT...

Poor Jan, just when he thought he was done getting spanked by Lance another American comes along and pulls the rug from underneath him...

wilmar13 said:

Yeah that is what I was implying, Jan is hosed unless he has a great day AND Levi rides like Rasmussen in a TT...

Check out this quote by Levi's team manager:
"Emotionally, I would have preferred it if Totschnig had won, but you must be rational in these situations," Holczer said. "Levi has no chance in staying leader once Monday's individual time trial has been raced. In this area, Ullrich is by far the strongest."

Gee thanks for the encouragement coach. 😕

Hopefully that is misquoted (from Velonews), and what he meant was that Levi needed to gain as much time over Jan as possible to remain in the lead after Monday, but it sure doesn't sound like it to me.

56 seconds in a 31 km TT? no problem atall for Jan.

He's going to put well over a minute into Levi , i dont see what all the doom and gloom is about (if youre a Jan fan)
-assuming he hasnt got the sniffles again or been throwing himself through windows.

Roadrash Dunc said:

56 seconds in a 31 km TT? no problem atall for Jan.

He's going to put well over a minute into Levi , i dont see what all the doom and gloom is about (if youre a Jan fan)
-assuming he hasnt got the sniffles again or been throwing himself through windows.

He does have the sniffles Dunc! Thats the point.
But I think he is over the cold.
He says:
"Phew, what a hell of a stage this was! I ask myself: Who on earth builds such steep roads?... Jörg Jaksche made a strong impression all day long, so he deserved to win. I can be very satisfied with my third place just the same. After all, the cold last week was a little setback for me and my nose is still stuffed. However, I keep feeling better. So it was important to have put myself in a good position today. If it goes on like this, I can launch an all-out attack on the Feldberg and the time trial."

So I cant wait to see if he drops folks on the Feldberg, a climb I understand suits him better than the very steep gradient of th climb the other day.

hombredesubaru said:

He does have the sniffles Dunc! Thats the point.
But I think he is over the cold.
He says:
"Phew, what a hell of a stage this was! I ask myself: Who on earth builds such steep roads?... Jörg Jaksche made a strong impression all day long, so he deserved to win. I can be very satisfied with my third place just the same. After all, the cold last week was a little setback for me and my nose is still stuffed. However, I keep feeling better. So it was important to have put myself in a good position today. If it goes on like this, I can launch an all-out attack on the Feldberg and the time trial."

So I cant wait to see if he drops folks on the Feldberg, a climb I understand suits him better than the very steep gradient of th climb the other day.

[censored] he is ill again!! Im starting to wonder if its all in his head.No one can get an illness or injury EVERY bloody time they race can they?
Sort it out Jan.
Anyway , im still backing him to win the Tour and take a good chunk of time on the TT.

Roadrash Dunc said:

[censored] he is ill again!! Im starting to wonder if its all in his head.No one can get an illness or injury EVERY bloody time they race can they?
Sort it out Jan.
Anyway , im still backing him to win the Tour and take a good chunk of time on the TT.

My sentiments exactly!

I think he will actually lose a little more time on the Feldberg, but then reclaim that on the TT.

He just hasn't shown climbing legs all year.

And Basso or Cunego will take Le Tour in '06.

Tend to agree with his climbing form , but then he has never shown great climbing form his whole career , hes always been in the Indurain mold and hung in as best he could and then whipped everyone on the TT.If Lance wasnt such a TT master , the Tour would have been an exciting ,close run thing the last 5 years!

Disagree about Cunego though , he hasnt a prayer at next years Tour.He is still a good couple of years away from maturing into a rider capable of even being on the podium in that event.Winning the Giro last year means nothing really when you talk about the Tour , he has been over hyped.You can be a great climber with an average TT and win the Tour but its very tough , and in fairness his TT is downright awful so its too much to expect for the next 12 months.
I fancy Valverde has a better shot of the young guns.
But it'll be Basso/Ullrich duking it out.

Early report on cyclingnews has Ullrich losing another 30 seconds to Leipheimer. Cadel Evans takes the stage.

Sets things up for an interesting TT.

Loser of the day: Ullrich........nice win by cadel!

I saw the stage and the weather was BAD! It rained the whole stage and it was cold........6/7 C!

Catabolic_Jones said:

Early report on cyclingnews has Ullrich losing another 30 seconds to Leipheimer. Cadel Evans takes the stage.

Sets things up for an interesting TT.

MJtje said:

Loser of the day: Ullrich........nice win by cadel!

I saw the stage and the weather was BAD! It rained the whole stage and it was cold........6/7 C!

It was indeed a nice win. One he deserved, after such a strong season it would be a bit empty to then come away with no wins. I bet he regrets running a 25 when everyone else was using a 27 on teh Rettenbachferner climb too. Could of been the differance that day between holding on and getting dropped like he did.

I think Leipheimer has the race in the bag now.

Catabolic_Jones said:

Early report on cyclingnews has Ullrich losing another 30 seconds to Leipheimer. Cadel Evans takes the stage.

Sets things up for an interesting TT.

Which Ullrich has just won some minutes ago. But Leipheimer was just 55s behind, so he'll be no. 1 tomorrow.

In an earlier message of yours you were right with predicting that Ullrich will loose some more time on the Feldberg. And for sure he did.
Has anybody actually EVER seen him in ANY major race these years where he could keep up with the top guys on the last climb? Armstrong, Basso, this time Evens or Leipheimer or Totschnig. The names of the better ones always change. What remains the same is the Ullrich way. Just can ride his own (surely very high) speed. But once another rider can top that and attacks, he falls back immediately. Every time costing him 40secs and up. That happened all the years, exactly the same (maybe since 1998 and once in 2003 where he actually did attack). And I bet it won't change next year. Will just be interesting to see who will leave him behind then. Personally I believe it has something to do with his personal trainer and the way the T-Mobile squad is managed.

Felix

Felix_in_Beijin said:

Which Ullrich has just won some minutes ago. But Leipheimer was just 55s behind, so he'll be no. 1 tomorrow.

In an earlier message of yours you were right with predicting that Ullrich will loose some more time on the Feldberg. And for sure he did.
Has anybody actually EVER seen him in ANY major race these years where he could keep up with the top guys on the last climb? Armstrong, Basso, this time Evens or Leipheimer or Totschnig. The names of the better ones always change. What remains the same is the Ullrich way. Just can ride his own (surely very high) speed. But once another rider can top that and attacks, he falls back immediately. Every time costing him 40secs and up. That happened all the years, exactly the same (maybe since 1998 and once in 2003 where he actually did attack). And I bet it won't change next year. Will just be interesting to see who will leave him behind then. Personally I believe it has something to do with his personal trainer and the way the T-Mobile squad is managed.

Felix

I agree with you.
And it was the Feldberg that was the crux of this stage race for sure.

Ullrich really is a frustrating rider - he should have learnt by now he cannot rely on his TTing to win Tours.He isnt Indurain.
Its irrelevant how nice a guy he is , i was routing for him today but he needs to get nasty and climb more mountains.Simple as that.
All this relaxed bollocks and being comfortable and not over-stressing and riding in the sun in Tuscany doesnt work - we all know hes a far better bike racer than Levi but the same old story will be trotted out : he had a cold , he had an ache , he peaked too late , he peaked too early.
FFS the guys career is coming to an end and no matter what anyone says he hasnt won as many races as he should have.
I want to see him win something big , and soon!

If he doesnt go into next years Tour with alot of mountain conditioning in his legs - proper mountains - then he is going to get dropped at will on the HC climbs again by the leading few guys , whoever they maybe (Basso , Valverde , Cunego..) and he will fail to make up the time in the TTs.
Yet again he will get close-ish and get on the podium through his last week performance , but he wont win and he will bow out in the exact opposite way to Lance : a very likeable chap who didnt win as much as he should and lost his last big race.Rather fitting in a way.