LEVI LEIPHEIMER WINS TOUR OF THE GILA
Team RadioShack’s Levi Leipheimer secured his overall win in the 24th SRAM Tour of the Gila (New Mexico, USA) on Sunday. He accomplished this with only Lance Armstrong and Jason McCartney as his support team throughout the 5-day race. The three riders rode the national event as individual riders in the Mellow Johnny’s jersey. Australian rider Darren Lill (Fly V Australia) won the last stage, the 171.2km/106.4mi Gila Monster Road Race.
“I felt great today, but I have to thank my teammates again," commented Leipheimer. “Jason did a great job in the beginning of this hard stage by neutralizing the attacks of Dave Zabriskies’s team. Afterwards Lance was really good on the last climb. Nobody was able to attack. He was pulling the last 15 miles. With 5 miles to go, I took over to make sure the time gap with Darren Lill wasn’t that close.”
Levi Leipheimer conquered the red leader’s jersey after the first stage on Wednesday. He showed he is in top form for racing in California. “It was a great week for me, coming to altitude straight from sea level," continued Leipheimer. "I was never in any trouble and I don’t think it could have gone any better. It was a great week of preparation for the Tour of California.”
Final Overall Classification:
1 Levi Leipheimer; 2 Tom Danielson 00.59; 3 Dave Zabriskie 01.09; 4 Phil Zajicek 01.10; 5 Luis Amaran 02.11; 6 Andrew Talansky 02.36; 7 Darren Lill 02.44; 8 Rory Sutherland 03.20; 9Corey Collier 03.31; 10 Burke Swindlehurst 3.43
