We know who will win the last ITT now.

Leipheimer:

"I feel okay, we will see," he told Cyclingnews immediately after the finish of Stage four. "I definitely need some time to...well, I am a rider who usually does well in the third week, when everybody else gets tired."



He said the same of type of stuff in the Tour de France last year and we know how that went.

Funny how all these guys get stronger in the last week, especially when they often have a disappointing first half. Leipheimer has a history of tanking during the first week and a half.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

I remember Gerolsteiner saying after the 2006 Tour de France that they thought he didn't have the physical stamina to ITT at his best at the end of a GT. I know he said he was sick. But why would they say this (make this judgment) if he was clearly sick?

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I read it that way too. Fill in the blanks: "I need some time to...top up/get the moto with the ice box panniers here/eat more porridge..."

Could be an Astana whitewash the final tt.

Kloeden, Leipheimer, Contador and Gusev?

Don't count out DiLuca - he'll have saved something 'special' for this.

I wonder if Dr Ferrari will just happen to be staying at the same hotel as Leipheimer sometime in the next week?

atleast it shows a guilty conscience, manages to get out his justification prior to even riding the final chrono.

remember his wife Odessa Gunn was quite open he was doing transfusions on Rabobank back in 2002. Ofcourse, I don't think they had intra Tour de France transfusions. They may have though. But Rabo were smart enough to outsource for the 2 degrees of seperation. But the transfusions were under the aegis of Rabo. Wonder if he is still using the same doctor.

Was she? What did he say?

he was doing blood transfusions on his first year at Rabobank. Quite open about it.

Source?

someone in the USPS camp.

YUP a needle

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What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

No way Di Luca will win the last TT, his aero position sucks. Kloden (better at TTing than Contador or Levi) or Savoldelli will take it.