We have the slowest, crappiest, cheapest, most un-reliable internet that money can buy thanks to Verizon dumbing down the service but not the prices. But, yesterday, I was able to do what all day I had wondered about and was almost certain that I wouldn't; watch the video feed of the Tour of California (Toc) once I TTd my butt home from work in a kit that was still wet from the morning's slog-fest in. That part isn't important.
I've got to admit really quickly that I was a bit disappointed when the video started and it was just the Versus coverage online. While there is not a better duo, at least in the English speaking world, than Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwen, last year's video cast had Frankie Andreu who would make fun of the riders for doing dumb stuff in the pack. He'd also often forget his mic was on and throw out some f-bombs for good measure. I guess I shouldn't really be surprised he wasn't invited back, though I found it highly entertaining.
Last year when they announced the date change for the ToC I went on record saying I thought it was a bad idea. Mainly, I thought that if you were going to compete against a grand tour for riders, that it made more sense to take on the Vuelta. I still stand behind those statements, but yesterday proved something to me that I thought, but I don't think I ever wrote down.
If you've read this blog enough you'll know that I'm no Levi fan. Not that I don't like Levi, I'm just generally not a fan of his riding style. I think that Levi has benefited greatly from the return of Lance and suddenly he's popular because he has a popular friend. I think most of Levi's fans probably don't even realize he used to follow wheels for Gerolsteiner and got dropped by Lance and others constantly during the Tour de France.
So, back to what I thought but maybe didn't write. We all know that Levi has won the last three editions of the Tour of California and my sneaking suspicion has always been that he was able to win this race because the was the only rider that was actually in peak form. Now, I know we could sit here and debate all day on whether that's his fault or not, or if that should even be a factor that detracts from his victory's, but what we saw yesterday I think proves my point. Last year on Bonny Doon Levi attacked and nobody went with him. Yesterday he attacked and you could clearly see that Michael Rogers and Dave Zabriskie both went across the gap with ease. In fact, Rory Sutherland probably would have made it had he not had to come around both Armstrong and Horner who had started soft pedaling as soon as Levi jumped to create a bigger gap quicker. Maybe Levi saw that the guys came easily so they all just rode a hard tempo instead of more attacking, but when the cameras were there, no one seemed to be in the pain cave.
When they got to the line, Levi finished third. Which means he won the least amount of time bonus of the three. We'll have to see how this all plays out but if I'm Levi I can't be comfortable with the fact that I came to the line with the two biggest threats to beat me and they both got bigger time bonuses than I did. Sure Levi's a good time trialist but last time I checked he's not the former three time world time trial champion or the two time national time trial champ. Those would be Rogers and Zabriskie respectively, if you're wondering.
We'll see how this shakes out but it looks like when the other guys are actually on form Levi's not quite so dominating. This will make things interesting as now it's going to be up to Levi to try and drop those guys on the Big Bear climb (Which isn't very hard according to a lot of the pros) to get back some time before the TT in Los Angeles which, isn't exactly a role that suits Levi.
Maybe I don't agree with where they moved the ToC on the calender but it certainly has made for a much more interesting race already.
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