If you'd have asked me at the prologue of the Tour of California how I felt about Levi I'd have had one answer for you, "he's boring." Until I saw Levi cross the line in the TT in Solvang holding up 3 fingers to signify his third straight TT win I was pretty convinced the guy lacked any personality at all. And, even after that, I wasn't sold on him. In fact on the top of Palomar Mtn. the guy next to me after we'd discussed how I wasn't a fan, actually turned and apologized after cheering like mad when Levi came by us in the lead group. "You shoud like who you like man," was all I could say.
There are basically two things that I think make for awesome bike racers. One of those is to be entertaining. Guys like Dave Zabriskie, Chris Horner and Floyd Landis are hugely entertaining but for really different reasons. Zabriskie and Landis are entertaining because they make fun of themselves and basically what they do for a living. A few years ago in Bicycling magazine they interviewed each other which was pretty hilarious in itself but when they talked about going "mullet hunting" through the peloton, I almost peed my pants. Apparently the Russians have the best mullets, who knew? Chris Horner is entertaining becuase he gives the best interviews of anyone of the pros. When something went down in the stage that he didn't like, he tells you about it. He's also understands bike racing and gives incredible insight tactically for those of us who enjoy that part of the race. It doesn't hurt that he's probably the best super domestique in the peloton and rides selflessly for his team captain day in and day out. You gotta respect that!
The other thing that I admire in bike racers is the willingness to risk lossing for a shot at winning. Anytime a bike racer attacks on a mountain stage he's taking that risk. If he goes too early fine, at least he tried. He took advantage of the situation and actually raced his bike. Landis' ride in the 2006 Tour when he charged off alone on the first mountain of a 3 summit day in an effort to take back time was a perfect example of rolling those dice. It worked, but it could have been a disaster. Lance used to attack guys in the mountains with the intention of punishing them for simply showing up to race that day. Gotta love that. Contador's not afraid to pull off his cycling glove one half finger at a time and slap his opponent in the face with it. And this list of examples couldn't be complete without mentioning Jens Voight who goes on the attack all the time and almost never wins. But when asked about it he says, "if I don't try, I've already lost. So I might as well try."
Before that Solvang TT Levi had neither of these characteristics. He was a guy who never did interviews so one could only assume he had nothing interesting to say. It's not really a surprise that journalists gravitate towards Horner and Zabriskie because they know they're going to get something worth while. There's 180+ guys starting a grand tour. They can't interview all of them everyday, but you can assume if they're 1 of 5 or so Americans in the race and they never get interviewed, there's a reason. My other impression of Levi, which I also think was totally justified, was that he wasn't willing to take that risk of losing in order to win, which is why he's chronically finished on the podium but never the stop the step. Levi, like Cadel Evans, always seemed to simply follow wheels up the mountains. They'd respond to attacks the best they could, but they were never the ones forcing other riders to match their acceleration. Since I like the guys who are willing to gamble I didn't find Levi's penny slots approach to bike racing very interesting.
However, with the return of Lance I've started to see Levi in a whole new light. Lance, in an effort to raise awareness for the global fight against cancer has taken full advantage of the new technologies available to keep his cause in front of your face as often as possible. Everyday on twitter he posts pictures and links to videos that are uploaded to the LAF website. The videos are generally short, less than 3 minutes, but they give some insight into whats going on in the race, but most importantly I think they put you on their website where it's my assumption they hope you'll click some links and check some things out. For an example of a video click here.
Levi is becoming quite the guest star to Lance's online blogging world and I think it's doing wonders for his image. Lance is a great bike racer, but he's also a PR genius. Consider for a second how many other bike racers get accused of doping just once and everybody throws their arms up in complete decision that the person is guilty. Now think of how many times Lance has been accused of doping and through press conferences, tv appearances and variety of other methods, he convinces people he's clean. That statement is not in any way a finger point in either direction, but I think it's a great example of how Lance knows what he's doing when it comes to how the pubic views him. There's no one better that Levi could mimic.
I used to think that Levi just happened to be the American who got lucky enough to be there when Lance retired and Floyd got banned. Americans like rooting for Americans, there's no secret there. I thought everybody would jump on the Levi bandwagon and we'd all follow cycling wishing that he'd attack or say something interesting while constantly finishing as the bridesmaide, never the bride. Until that 3 finger salute in Solvang I was absolutely right and I've got years of results to prove it. But, as it turns out, all he needed was a little coaching.
Now, Levi, for the love of god, in the fine words of your boy Lance, "...make them hurt in the mountains."
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