Photo by falling.bullets at flickr.com. Levi Leipheimer fights to add seconds to his margin over challenger Jens Voight in Friday's time trial.
Levi Leipheimer assumed undisputed control of the Amgen Tour of California on Friday, as he powered to victory on the individual time trial and gained valuable seconds on his nearest challenger.
The Discovery Channel cyclist posted the fastest time of 29:40 over the 14.5-mile loop course around Solvang, beating 2nd-place challenger Jens Voigt by 18 seconds, which gives the US rider a 21-second overall lead.
With just two stages remaining, this tour is virtually in the bag for Discovery Channel if Leipheimer's teammates hold off the attacks over the last two stages. Barring a major debacle, the only cyclist within striking distance is Team CSC's Voigt. The strategy for Discovery is easy: “Don't let Voigt get away.”
It's kind of reminiscent of those years when Lance Armstrong's only challenger was another German by the name of Jan Ullrich.
Aside from the amazing rides of Voigt and Leipheimer, Discovery cyclist Jason McCartney nearly stole the show Friday with the third fastest time — 30:05. McCartney moves way up in the General Classification to 3rd place from the 20th place he held early Friday morning.
You'll remember McCartney from his heroic ride on Stage 3 when he joined an early breakaway. When Leipheimer jumped from the pack and caught the lead group, McCartney helped to sustain him toward the finish.
Amazingly, Leipheimer has been in the leader's golden jersey ever since winning the prologue in San Francisco by one second. The Tour Tracker video feed (which was completely dialed today) showed that Leipheimer left the start house without the golden jersey, perhaps concerned about aerodynamics.
Saturday's Stage 6 is a 105-mile route on Saturday from Santa Barbara to Santa Clarita. Cyclists will face 4 major climbs on the way to the three circuits of Santa Clarita before the finish at about 2:52 p.m. (PT)
Then the Tour ends Sunday with a 10 circuit race around Long Beach that begins at 1 p.m. (PT) and is expected to wrap up at 3:45 p.m.
Check out the Top 10 in the General Classification. It's all Discovery and CSC in the top six places, and four US cyclists in the top six:
1. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Discovery Channel
2. Jens Voigt (Ger), CSC — 21 seconds behind
3. Jason McCartney (USA), Discovery Channel — 54 seconds
4. Bobby Julich (USA), CSC — 1:06
5. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), CSC –1:20
6. Christian Vande Velde (USA), CSC — 1:24
7. Michael Rogers (Aus), T-Mobile — 1:34
8. Ben Day (Aus), Navigators — 1:38
9. Franco Pellizotti (Ita), Liquigas — 1:41
10. Ryder Hesjedal (Can), Health Net -Maxxis — 1:57
See VeloNews or CyclingNews for final standings.
Recent Comments