Levi Leipheimer maintained his lead at the Tour of Utah on Saturday in spite of a breakaway that threatened to put one of his rivals into striking distance of the yellow jersey.
Meanwhile, Colombian cyclist Javier Acevedo attacked the breakaway to win Stage 4, an 82-mile circuit race around Salt Lake City.
Acevedo is a member of the Gobernacion De Antioquia-Indeportes Antio, a Colombian cycling team that has two wins at the Tour and held the overall race lead until Friday.
That breakaway formed shortly after the beginning of the 11-lap race. One member of the group, Garmin-Cervelo's Christian Vande Velde, nearly had the lead on the road as they put a 2:30 margin into the rest of the peloton.
But Vande Velde was among those who couldn't hang on as Acevedo's teammates upped the tempo in the breakaway. He finished in 9th place, gaining about 1:30 on Leipheimer.
A big gainer on the day was Sergio Henao (Col) Gobernacion De Antioquia-Indeportes Antio. After leading the race all week, Henao lost the yellow jersey on Friday's individual time trial stage.
Henao gained about 30 seconds over Leipheimer on Saturday to move into 2nd place overall, trailing Leipheimer by 23 seconds. Leipheimer's RadioShack teammate, Janez Brajkovic, dropped to 3rd.
The peloton is girding for the hardest and final stage of the Tour of Utah on Sunday — a 100-mile bike race from Kimball Junction to the summit of the Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort. The peloton faces 12,000 feet of climbing on Sunday.
The Tour of Utah can be watched lived at TourTracker.
Top 10 overall
1. Levi Leipheimer (USA) RadioShack
2. Sergio Henao (Col) Gobernacion De Antioquia-Indeportes Antio — :23
3. Janez Brajkovic (Slo) RadioShack — “27
4. Oscar Sevilla (Esp) Gobernacion De Antioquia-Indeportes Antio — :29
5. Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin Cervelo — 1:18
6. Timothy Duggan (USA) Liquigas — 2:06
7. Francesco Mancebo — (Esp) RealCyclist — 2:09
8. Janier Acevedo — (Col) Gobernacion De Antioquia-Indeportes Antio — 2:27
9. Tejay Van Garderen — (USA) HTC Highroad — 2:27
10. Pat McCarty — (USA) Team Spidertech — 2:30
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