Todays performance by Levi Leipheimer, while not enough to break him into the top ten, really moved him back into contention for a top ten and possibly even top three finish in the GC.
After a horrible time trial–losing over 6 minutes to the leaders–Levi looked like he was out of the running entirely. Looking at him at the time trial finish line you could tell he wasn’t feeling “on”. We now know he had very bad diarrhea all night before the time trial. I can’t even imagine riding my commute after a night of diarrhea let alone a Tour time trial.
Today he erased the 6 minute deficit against most of the GC competitors, climbing 45 positions in the general classification–from 58th to 13th! He is now only 5″38′ behind Floyd Landis. I doubt he will catch Floyd, but if Levi is able to perform strongly in the Alps he could still make a podium finish in Paris.
One has to wonder where he would be placed if he had not been sick before the time trial.
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