ToC

Andrija

Leipheimer blew Cancellara for over a minute on a 24k course... They aren't on same food obviously.

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padawan

If he did, then Janez Brajkovic was eating from the same plate. The little guy placed 7th!

I know he was an U23 TT champion but I'm always a little surprized when I see a 120 lbs soaking wet rider finish highly placed in a TT unless it's all uphill.

thecyclist

This is Levi's TDF because he won't be riding the real one.

TheDarkLord

That's my thought too. He must have finished off the stuff he was saving for TdF...

fscyclist

Millar and Vandevelde finished second and third, beating Cancellara by 36 and 20 sec. respectively. I saw pictures of Slipstream's food (looked like dried tirds) and I don't think it explains those results.

thunder

fs you dont believe those guys are clean?

Crankyfeet

Guys... this is a serious dent to the "everyone's doping" argument. You have got to believe Millar and Vande Velde are clean. I know they are peaking for this race, but if they are clean, it damages the "you can't compete clean" argument.

I realise that a 15 mile TT may not be the best example of a race requiring dope, but it certainly is going to affect the oxygen carrying capacity if they are on the red blood cell boosters, and the off-season steroid boys would have an advantage. Perhaps these random tests out of competition are working.

fscyclist

I don't know. But I think it is unfair to jump all over Levi for a good performance but give Slipstream a pass (especially when their team is composed of convicted and alleged dopers). I do think it's interesting that all of them beat Danny Pate by 3 minutes. He's not known for his TT ability, but this was a short TT and that is a lot of time.

I know Slipstream is peaking for this race, as Levi may also be doing, so for all of them to beat Cancellara (who may care little about the ToC) isn't a big surprise. Again, I just don't like hypocrisy.

fscyclist

Why do you think Millar and Vande Velde are clean? What makes them cleaner than the competition?

Crankyfeet

Just that the whole raison detre of the team is that they are going to be clean. And this being a very early race in their existence... IMO even they would probably want to know how good/bad riding clean fares in the competition.

Call it a hunch... (I see myself as primarily a cynic)... but I think these guys, even if they may end up back on the dark side, are at least going to walk the walk at first... if nothing more than to see how it goes. For them to dope from race number one... makes me wonder if they would be able to sleep at night after all the hullaballoo about their team.

fscyclist

How did Millar sleep when he was using EPO?

All teams are in a race to proclaim their cleanliness, and I don't think Slipstream is really much different. I know I'm a skeptic, but why wouldn't you be at this point? I have no reason to think that Millar or Vande Velde are any cleaner than Leipheimer except for good faith, and I have none left for pro cycling.

Crankyfeet

I think there is some difference now. When he was doing it years ago...the peloton generally didn't think it was cheating if you passed tests... and the public were naive to how prevalent it was. If Slipstream are doping atm...then I'm giving up on following pro cycling (there may be a guy who is doing it on the sly... worried about his spot in the team perhaps... but I am banking on them being clean for now).

If you think they are dirty... then I don't know how you could ever imagine a way out of this mire, or ever want to watch it.

thunder

actually Pate is known for his tt ability,

won u23 worlds in about 01

poulidor

If we were in the middle of the season, I would say that Levi was on dope. But it's the beginning, a lot of riders are just at ToC for training, especially Cancellara who is focusing classic.
So no probleme for me, especially it's better for cyclism promotion to give the victory to an American!