An Interview with Levi Leipheimer, March 10th, 2008
11 March 2008Levi Leipheimer’s 2008 road racing season has barely started and yet he has already won the largest stage race in the USA, the Tour of California which has set the stage for his best season ever. How has Levi trained through the winter to find such early success? What did he do in the off season to become so dominating in the Time Trial? As he tells TrainingPeaks.com’s Dirk Friel, “I think about that course all winter long”.
For the complete audio interview click the audio player.
A Roller Coaster Ride
The first two months of 2008 has been a roller coaster of a ride for Levi Leipheimer. He has experienced the highs of winning his second consecutive Tour of California, yet he has also had to endure the emotional lows of not being invited to participate in the 2008 Tour de France. This all comes at a time which is arguably Levi’s most opportune year to vie for the overall Tour de France victory himself. Race plans have changed and Levi is now not only focused on training for the Olympics, but he is also spearheading a public relations campaign to try and pressure the organizers of the Tour de France to allow his team Astana a chance to defend Alberto Contador’s 2007 victory.
2008 Tour of California Review
Levi describes how even though he placed 4th in the opening Tour of California prologue he was still able to take the first two stages easy since the pressure was focused on the sprinter’s teams, such as CSC, to collect stage wins. Levi was able to relax and he figured stage 3 into San Jose is when team Astana would have to take on more responsibility and take control of the race for the first time. Things seemed to go as planned as Levi described stage 3 as being “a lot less combative” than the same stage in 2007.
Levi contrasts this year’s event with the 2007 stage 6 between Santa Barbara and Santa Clarita as being “the most battled stage ever” and one he will never forget. Unlike this year, the 2007 Tour of California did put Levi in a very difficult situation and one where his team had to battle tooth and nail. His race lead was under serious attack by a 9-man breakaway which included the likes of Stuart O’Grady, Michael Rogers and Danny Pate. Team Discovery had to spend a lot of energy the entire day trying to close down a maximum lead of over three minutes. In addition to chasing on all cylinders, team Discovery also had to worry about the seriousness of injuries suffered by George Hincapie suffered in a crash in the opening miles. Levi describes George’s ride as “legendary” as it was later confirmed that George had suffered a fractured wrist and yet worked unselfishly for his team leader the entire day, only to not start the next day’s stage.
Taking Control in the Time Trials
Levi has made some significant improvements in his time trial results which he attributes to the two days he spent in the wind tunnel in the fall of 2006 with Trek engineers and Steve Hed. Almost by accident Levi describes how the team came across an incredibly fast position which led to increased confidence. As an added bonus Levi had the entire 2006 winter to train and adapt to the new position. His motivation “went sky high” during that winter coupled with his specific time trialing work his coach Massimo Testa prescribed.
The 2007 Tour of California time trial and the other early season time trials in 2007 were very important as proof that the position found in the wind tunnel was actually fast on the open roads. With the success came confidence which lead to much easier win in the 2008 Tour of California time trial as compared to his 2007 victory.
“I had better legs during the 2007 final Tour de France Time Trial, but overall I had a better race in the ’08 Tour of California”.
- Levi Leipheimer compares Time Trial races
Levi’s winning formula for the Tour of California pretty much comes down to that one 15-mile stretch of road surrounding Solvang. He thinks about that course all winter long and plans the strategy for the first four stages around having good legs during the stage five TT. Levi was even thinking about the time trial when he was in the final winning break away with Robert Gesink on stage 3 into San Jose. “I knew not to kill myself on stage 3 as I knew the most important day was yet to come”, Levi explains.
Levi goes on to describe how this year’s California time trial was his best in terms of cornering, concentration and overall pacing. He had better legs during the 2007 final Tour de France Time Trial, but overall he had a better race in the ’08 Tour of California time trial. He likes to break the course down into parts and plan out how to “spend his power wisely.” He knows segments where he needs to go all-out and others where he needs to recover.
In estimating his average power output for the 30 minute time trial Levi would bet he maintains 395-400 watts. This is also based on what he can do in training, which is of course lower than what he can reproduce on race day. His typical time trial workout includes intervals that are between 4-10 minutes in length.
His daily workouts are prescribed and analyzed by legendary coach Massimo Testa, who he has formally been working with since 2004. Levi downloads his SRM files through the TrainingPeaks software which provides Max with immediate access and analysis tools. Training schedules are entered by Max into Levi’s online TrainingPeaks account and his workouts are automatically delivered by e-mail every night keeping Levi on track.
Contingency Plans
During the interview Levi addressed the ASO’s decision to not invite his team to compete in the Tour de Franc. He expressed how the win at the Tour of California was very important to show the ASO that the best riders, and team, have not been invited to this year’s Tour. He feels the race itself will lose out by not providing the fan with the best race possible and viewership will therefore suffer.
Now that the Tour de France is not on Astana’s race schedule Levi has shifted his focus towards the Olympics and other stage races that suit his style of racing. Levi’s next race is the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon, March 24-28th, where he will ride in a support role for Alberto Contador who is the defending champion. From there Levi will make a return to stateside to race the Tour of Georgia, April 21-27, then he will contest the Dauphine Libere in mid-June, followed by the Olympics and then the Tour of Spain.
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Levi’s current fitness is not as good as it was when he won the Tour of California.- Levi Leipheimer discusses his current fitness |
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Levi’s current fitness is not as good as it was when he won the Tour of California but he says that is normal and to be expected. He has taken a bit of time off after the California race and is slowly ramping training back up to his next event. Levi did however race in a local time trial march 9th where he actually missed his start time. Better to miss your start time at a local event and get the bad luck out of the way when it doesn’t count.
LetLeviRide.com
Levi’s supporters have been instrumental in his quest to get invited back to the Tour de France. They’ve started a web site, LetLeviRide.com, which is an online petition and e-mail campaign designed to give the fans a voice in who they would like to see in the French Grande Tour.
“The decision was not fair and compromises the race itself. I don’t expect it to change their decision. But they (the Tour de France) will lose fans which is not in their interest” said Levi.
One Response to “An Interview with Levi Leipheimer, March 10th, 2008”
March 12th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
More audio interviews, please! Setup with with RSS podcast feed with be fantastic. Then they would end up on my iPod automagically ready to listen to while doing my intervals.