Quote Originally Posted by VeloChick View Post
Levi will most likely have his chance @ the Vuelta this year. There is no question that if Ivan races (given last year's twist, and the ongoing Operation Puerto, it certainly isn't a given) this year, he will be the team leader in both the Giro, and le Tour. In terms of George, even sans Basso and Levi, Big George showed that while he can win a stage or two, he's no GC contender in the big French race.

FYI, I've seen Levi interviewed a few times, and he really seems like a genuinely nice guy. Who really knows though?

Levi may be fighting out the leadership role at the Velta with Tommy D.....

I really hope that Discovery hasn't made the mistake this year of having too many chiefs and not enough indians.(which I think has been a big detriment to T-Mobile in the past - the whole Jan-Vino-Kloden triangle - sheesh its ablsolutely amaturish to attack your own teammate in a Grand Tour!!!) I can totally understand why they jumped at the chance of getting Basso on the team. He's a real contender for the grand tours and to tell the truth I'm not sure that there was anyone on Disco with the experience or the talent to take The Tour. Levi certainly is talented, but I certainly never saw anything from him that made me think he could win the big one. There are other guys on Discovery that are really talented (Danielson - Popovich), but they are young and relatively inexperienced. It should be a rather exciting season to watch. It will be interesting to see the Giro/Tour team rosters. We'll see if Basso has the personality to inspire the others to work and give everything all for him.