Levi Leipheimer leads Tour of Utah
Levi Leipheimer has followed up his win of the Leadville 100 with a victory in Thursday’s stage two of the Tour of Utah, which has also put him into the overall lead of the five-stage, American national event.
“I took the jersey, whatever, I probably won’t hold onto it by the end of the race,” said Leipheimer. “I came here to win a stage and I saw the opportunity, so I had to take it. History has shown that I can time trial but you never know what can happen tomorrow, I should be able to keep the race lead.”
The race began with a 4.48km prologue in the state capital on Tuesday, won by Trek-Livestrong rider Taylor Phinney ahead of his teammate Alex Dowsett and BMC-Racing’s Brent Bookwalter.
“Sometimes in cycling you feel like you have a perfect day and today was not like that at all,” said Phinney after the win. “I was in so much pain. It was a good course that suited me; a short prologue and coming off the track in the individual pursuit suited me. It definitely was not easy at all.”
Australian David Tanner continued his impressive season with his fifth victory in Wendesday’s stage one. Dowsett finished second and took over the race lead.
“I knew I was going well,” said Tanner after the win. “This year I’ve been working with my new coach Ben Day and he is bringing the best out of me. I seem to be getting better and better. Today was the fruit of the work we’ve been putting in together.”
Leipheimer crossed the summit finish of stage two 51 seconds ahead of Francisco Mancebo Perex, the defending champion and took control of the leader’s jersey only days after a record-breaking finish of the Leadville 100.
“The last five kilometres was windy, high altitude and I’m getting sick of this high altitude feeling, it’s not very good,” Leipheimer said. “I went away and I felt good, but you do one big effort and the altitude is crazy, it makes you hurt really bad. I tried not to go over my limit and keep it steady. I knew behind that they were hurting and they weren’t working together well.”
Friday’s stage three is a 14.8km individual time-trial, and Leipheimer, a proven time-trialist, expects to maintain his overall lead for at least one more stage. The race ends with the 155km stage five on Sunday from Park City to Snowbird.
Tags: