(Update Stage 2: Levi Leipheimer preserved his overall lead after Thursday's stage 2 after finishing in second place behind stage winner Luis Amaran. Lance Armstrong finished in 3rd place.)
Levi Leipheimer won the leader's red jersey in the Tour of the Gila after the first stage in 2009; he's still wearing it in the New Mexico bike race after Stage 1 in 2010.
Riding once again for Mellow Johnny's (a proxy team for the RadioShack pro cycling team), Leipheimer took the Stage 1 mountaintop finish on Wednesday ahead of No. 2 finisher Tom Danielson, a member of the DZNuts team (a proxy for Garmin-Transitions pro cycling team).
The California cyclist wrote on his Twitter feed after the race:
Nothing hurts like altitude! Great work by Team Mellow Johnny's today.
RadioShack
His teammates in Silver City this week are Lance Armstrong (owner of the Mellow Johnny bike shop in Austin) and Jason McCartney, another teammate on Radio Shack. They're all posing, with team manager Johann Bruyneel, in the special Mellow Johnny's team kit prepared specially for this race. If you look closely, you'll see the words “Mellow Johnny's” under the Radio Shack logo.
McCartney finished in 13th, 1:16 behind Leipheimer; Armstrong finished in 22nd place, 1:46 behind.
DZ Nuts
Danielson is joined on the DZ Nuts team by David Zabriskie (owner of the DZNuts chamois creme brand) and Tom Peterson. They'll all members of the Garmin-Transitions.
Danielson finished 10 seconds behind Leipheimer, Zabriskie 41 seconds behind in 6th place, and Peterson (of North Bend, Washington) finished 7:35 behind in 95th.
Another familiar name, Floyd Landis (OUCH Bahatis Foundation) finished in 19th place, 1:28 behind.
As a rule, members of the ProTour couldn't compete in a lower level race like the Tour of the Gila. But when Armstrong was looking for a race to test his recovery from a broken collarbone last year, he chose the Gila bike race. The UCI said it was OK as long as he didn't race under his team name (at the time Astana) and no more than three members of the same ProTour team competed.
Tough racing
The race, sponsored by SRAM and based in southwestern New Mexico, is known for hot, windy weather and dramatic ascents. Wednesday's 94-mile race from Silver City, for instance, ended at the ghost town of Mogollon that was reached by roads with 10% and 19% slopes.
Thursday's Stage 2 is an 80-mile race ending at Fort Bayard.
The five-stage race ends on Saturday.
Other cycling teams at the race include UnitedHealthcare, Jamis-Sutter Home, SpiderTech, Jelly Belly, Fly V Australia, Mountain Khakis, Bissell, Team Type 1, Holowesko Partners and Trek Livestrong.
Results will be posted at the Tour of the Gila website.
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