Leipheimer frustrated at time penalty (Velonews)
"Buried deep in Sunday's UCI commissaires' report was a penalty against Levi Leipheimer for illegal mechanical assistance and bidon pulls.
Leipheimer hopes the 10-second penalty won't make a difference in Paris.
The top American contender was fined 50 CHF and penalized 5 points and 10 seconds for the bidon pull and fined an additional 50 CHF for illegal mechanical assistance."
In all fairness to LL the word "frustrated" in the title could be a typical media beat-up of his response to a journalists question in the lobby of a hotel, but I saw that "illegal mechanical assistance" live. He was dragged along by the saddle for ages at a very high speed, that was not your usual bidon pull, sorry. The mechanic leant out of the car, grabbed the saddle, didn't even pretend to do anything and the driver floored it until they got back onto the main group. At that critical point in the race (foot of the last climb) he may not have got back on if he was on the rivet.
If he was indeed frustrated it should have been at his own stupidity, the fine was richly deserved IMHO, maybe even a little too lenient. I'm glad they didn't overlook that one, it was too blatant. The only thing that made me sicker was Phil/Pauls whitewashing of the incident.
"Buried deep in Sunday's UCI commissaires' report was a penalty against Levi Leipheimer for illegal mechanical assistance and bidon pulls.
Leipheimer hopes the 10-second penalty won't make a difference in Paris.
The top American contender was fined 50 CHF and penalized 5 points and 10 seconds for the bidon pull and fined an additional 50 CHF for illegal mechanical assistance."
In all fairness to LL the word "frustrated" in the title could be a typical media beat-up of his response to a journalists question in the lobby of a hotel, but I saw that "illegal mechanical assistance" live. He was dragged along by the saddle for ages at a very high speed, that was not your usual bidon pull, sorry. The mechanic leant out of the car, grabbed the saddle, didn't even pretend to do anything and the driver floored it until they got back onto the main group. At that critical point in the race (foot of the last climb) he may not have got back on if he was on the rivet.
If he was indeed frustrated it should have been at his own stupidity, the fine was richly deserved IMHO, maybe even a little too lenient. I'm glad they didn't overlook that one, it was too blatant. The only thing that made me sicker was Phil/Pauls whitewashing of the incident.
