Leipheimer & Landis battle ahead
I have hesitated to come right out and admit I should eat my previous words concerning Floyd Landis' lack of leadership skills. I have been impressed with his season thus far as he's won the overall at the Tour of California, the Tour de Georgia and Paris-Nice. No professional rider wins those three events on ability alone, but rather great form and dare I say a bit of team leadership skills are required.
Levi Leipheimer was nipping Floyd's heels in California, but this past week it was Levi setting the tone and taking the overall victory at the Dauphine Libere. Leipheimer is the fourth American to win the Dauphine, and in most cases this race is a pre-cursor for things to come in the Tour de France. Landis was at the Dauphine too, but focused only on the time-trial and ended up finishing well down on GC.
In the lone time-trial at the Dauphine it was Dave Zabriskie who smoked the field for the win, while Landis got second and Leipheimer was third. Landis was 53 seconds down on Zabriskie, but only 23 seconds better than Leipheimer on the 43 km event. Big George Hincapie happened to take fourth spot on the day only 41 seconds off Landis.
You heard that right, the top four finishers were Americans in the stage three time-trial at the 2006 Dauphine Libere. I didn't see that on ESPN, did you?
Back to Leipheimer and Landis, we are now less than three weeks away from the Tour de France. My previous blog went into great detail about how the time-trial ability of Landis had yet to overcome the climbing advantage Leipheimer had over Landis. The finishing numbers of the last few Tours proved this point, but it's 2006 and both are stronger physically and mentally. We can only hope both stamp their authority on the Tour and rival Ullrich and Basso for the yellow jersey.
Leip and Lan had better not get too comfortable following the wheels of the big German and tiny Italian. George Hincapie has recovered from his Paris-Roubaix crash and is gearing up to race for yellow himself. In this latest interview with Cyclingnews Hincapie states, "I'm pretty sure that I can do a lot better than last year, without expending that energy [riding for Armstrong], but how much better I don't know." Hincapie's weight will be around 158 to 160 pounds by July, which means more wattage output per pound going up the Alps and Pyrenees.
This should make for a very interesting Tour, but it's likely to all come down to who has the strongest overall team. Not only that, but the team must be willing to sacrifice all for the one leader.
OLN has released their schedule for the Tour, and it looks as though we are going to overdose on Tour race action. Not only do we get LIVE coverage each day, but OLN has dedicated nearly the entire day of programming to replaying that day's race. Get your popcorn ready!
Levi Leipheimer was nipping Floyd's heels in California, but this past week it was Levi setting the tone and taking the overall victory at the Dauphine Libere. Leipheimer is the fourth American to win the Dauphine, and in most cases this race is a pre-cursor for things to come in the Tour de France. Landis was at the Dauphine too, but focused only on the time-trial and ended up finishing well down on GC.
In the lone time-trial at the Dauphine it was Dave Zabriskie who smoked the field for the win, while Landis got second and Leipheimer was third. Landis was 53 seconds down on Zabriskie, but only 23 seconds better than Leipheimer on the 43 km event. Big George Hincapie happened to take fourth spot on the day only 41 seconds off Landis.
You heard that right, the top four finishers were Americans in the stage three time-trial at the 2006 Dauphine Libere. I didn't see that on ESPN, did you?
Back to Leipheimer and Landis, we are now less than three weeks away from the Tour de France. My previous blog went into great detail about how the time-trial ability of Landis had yet to overcome the climbing advantage Leipheimer had over Landis. The finishing numbers of the last few Tours proved this point, but it's 2006 and both are stronger physically and mentally. We can only hope both stamp their authority on the Tour and rival Ullrich and Basso for the yellow jersey.
Leip and Lan had better not get too comfortable following the wheels of the big German and tiny Italian. George Hincapie has recovered from his Paris-Roubaix crash and is gearing up to race for yellow himself. In this latest interview with Cyclingnews Hincapie states, "I'm pretty sure that I can do a lot better than last year, without expending that energy [riding for Armstrong], but how much better I don't know." Hincapie's weight will be around 158 to 160 pounds by July, which means more wattage output per pound going up the Alps and Pyrenees.
This should make for a very interesting Tour, but it's likely to all come down to who has the strongest overall team. Not only that, but the team must be willing to sacrifice all for the one leader.
OLN has released their schedule for the Tour, and it looks as though we are going to overdose on Tour race action. Not only do we get LIVE coverage each day, but OLN has dedicated nearly the entire day of programming to replaying that day's race. Get your popcorn ready!
posted by NashvilleCyclist.com at 6/11/2006 09:34:00 PM
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