It's All About the Bike » levi leipheimer

Reflections On Horner Missing Out On Astana Tour Team

moto — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:00:19 +0000

Check out Chris Horner’s latest blog post with his account of “getting that call” informing him he wouldn’t be riding this year’s Tour. I think they should rename this team ASStana. The Kazakh sponsors don’t pay the team riders’ salaries while they are competing in the Giro, but then they pay up and mandate that a Kazakhi rider makes the Tour Team. Then they let Contador have some cronies, because he is a basket case and too worried the Yanks will gang up on him from within the team to support Lance. All of the sudden, there’s no room for Horner. I think the race just got less interesting with that one decision.

T-Bird Makes the New York Times

moto — Tue, 05 May 2009 03:32:25 +0000

The only things you can rely on these days with any degree of certainty are death, taxes, and Burke Swindlehurst making the final group in the Gila Monster stage of New Mexico’s Tour of the Gila bicycle stage race. Utah’s homegrown nice guy badass flyfishing book reading espresso drinking loud music listening to pro cyclist got his mugshot in the the sports section of nytimes.com because he was once again in the final group duking it out for the win in Pinos Altos. That’s Burke, second from left between race leader Levi Leipheimer, and Lance in the middle. Burke has won this stage three or four times (maybe it’s five, if anyone can correct me, please post a comment) over the last 15 years. People in Silver City, New Mexico have statues of him in little ad hoc shrines, paying homage to the quiet and unassuming pilgrim who comes to town every year to slay the dragon. Of course the NYTIMES story is all about Lance, Lance, Lance, and how he was supposed to win, but he didn’t, and oh boy, I guess there are chinks in his armor and he might not be able to win the Tour. Whatever. I’m just glad for Burke to come away with an excellent 4th place overall and to have made all his Utah amigos proud. If you want to follow Burke and his adventures, he’s a pretty steady micro-blogger on Twitter. Follow @slctbird.

Zabriskie 2nd in ToC Solvang Time Trial

moto — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 23:14:44 +0000

Davey Sprocket rocked it in the critical Amgen Tour of California Solvang individual time trial. Last rider on the course Levi Leipheimer won by 9 seconds, which will make it hard for Z to take the race lead, but at least while Leipheimer was on course, Dave clocked the fastest time. He beat Mick Rogers by 14 seconds, which will put him into second place overall. Cyclingnews.com has preliminary results, more to follow, but it looks like the overall contenders are starting to shake out.

Dave Z: Rocks Bronze at Worlds

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:02:47 +0000

Dave Z did it again, claiming a podium spot and a bronze medal at this year’s World Championships, behind Bert Grabsch and Canadian Svein Tuft. Here’s the story on cyclingnews. With the Silver medal he earned in 2006, there’s only one he hasn’t claimed. As far as the U.S. chances to do something in Italy, I am sure all eyes were on Levi Leipheimer for his commanding time trial wins in the Vuelta, that is, until his new boss announced his return to professional cycling. Levi certainly had the form ten days earlier to indicate he was going to crush it. Z Man wasn’t even on the start list posted by cyclingnews, leaving fans wondering if he was scratched. I think that’s Z’s style, fly in low under the radar, then drop some big bombs. Can a brother give me a Hell Yeah for Zabriskie? Leave a comment and say Hell Yeah.