Leipheimer and Hincapie: too friendly too soon?

PezCycling | USPRO'06 RR: Easy As Pie For Hincapie

Over at PezCycling News, Jered Gruber gives major, and deserved, props to Jelly Belly's Andy Bajadali, who went toe-to-toe with Hincapie and Leipheimer until the last few miles of the race.

Conversely, Gruber's not happy that Leipheimer would work so clearly for Hincapie. The two tag-teamed Bajadali late, and finally beat him down after repeated attacks.

Leipheimer, with no other Americans on the Gerolsteiner squad and thus no teammates, cozied up to his team for 2007, Discovery Channel. He got his feeds out of the Discovery car, and carried bottles up to Hincapie. I have to agree that it looked like Leipheimer was the strongest guy on Sunday. He spent more time in front of the pack than some drum majors. I think he's opening his Discovery Channel account a little early, a pretty common thing for the pros. This way, Discovery gets a US champ, and Leipheimer has earned some loyalty in return from Hincapie next season.