Leipheimer to Discovery

by kos on Sep 10, 2006 8:46 PM EDT

I've been out of it lately because of work-related travel, so was I the only person who missed the news that Leipheimer will be joining Discovery next year?

George Hincapie and Jason McCartney ride bicycles for Discovery Channel, America's only international team. Levi Leipheimer rides for Gerolsteiner of Germany, but will join Discovery next year.

They even got some practice working together at the US Road Championship.

Hincapie, McCartney, Leipheimer and Zabriskie were on the same radio frequency with Discovery's fill-in team director, Vyacheslav Ekimov.

Before the race, Leipheimer said: "We're not a team but we have a common interest. We'll work together for a while. Then it's every man for himself."

Well, it looks like they will be working together next year, and it looks like Discovery will have their team leader.

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Yeah this came out after the TDF.

He was clearly riding for them in Greenville. Did you notice the nice bottle pass-pull that Ekimov gave him? I was trying to notice if he had a Discovery or Gerolsteiner bottle in his cage..

by Peter Fontecchio on Sep 10, 2006 9:11 PM EDT reply actions

what does the bottle mean?

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos.php?id=/photos/2006/aug06/USPRO06/USPRO061/Zabriskie

Isn't that a QuickStep bottle in Zabriskie's bottle cage? I saw it more clearly in some other picture, though I haven't found it yet.

-K-

by KevinK on Sep 11, 2006 5:31 PM EDT up reply actions

no...

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=231438161&context=set-72157594264318769&size=l

It's a dasani bottle. I thought I had the ultimate scoop.

-K-

by KevinK on Sep 11, 2006 5:36 PM EDT up reply actions

Must have been a local sponser..

I'm pretty sure bottles labels mean about as much to the pro's as they do to us. I grab whatever is at the front of the cupboard and clean. I just got a kick out of how Eki was coaching Leipheimer and they did the old trick of passing the bottle while holding it for about 10 seconds to give the legs a quick break.

by Peter Fontecchio on Sep 11, 2006 6:13 PM EDT up reply actions

I watched the USPro on OLN today

and Eki was servicing Levi, no doubt. Those looked like Disco bottles to me.

by ELVISGOAT on Sep 10, 2006 9:39 PM EDT reply actions

I'm sure Gerolsteiner

isn't giving him any more free bottles..

by Peter Fontecchio on Sep 10, 2006 9:42 PM EDT up reply actions

It remains to be seen where Levi will be used.

IMHO His abilities and citizenship make him a prime candidate as a drawing card for the US races. But his age might not make him the best choice for the TdF as the team leader. He can help one of the younger riders along as he will be the one with valuable experience as a team leader with results (Salvodelli is gone next year.). And maybe George can concentrate entirely on the classics and Levi will help mold the next Discovery champion of a major tour.

by flying dog on Sep 10, 2006 9:45 PM EDT reply actions