US cyclist Levi Leipheimer celebrated his first stage win ever at the Tour de France on Saturday, pulling himself within 8 seconds of Cadel Evans, who sits in second place with just one stage left in the bike race.
Leipheimer's Discovery Channel teammate, Alberto Contador, survived in the yellow jersey as just 31 seconds separates the top three cyclists in the race that began nearly three weeks ago.
Leipheimer led in every time check in the 34-mile individual time trial from Cognac to Angoulême. His speed, 53.1k per hour (32.9 mph) is the fourth fastest ever recorded at the Tour.
The day started as do or die for the top 3 cyclists, but each held onto his standing overall.
Leipheimer gained 51 seconds on Evans (Predictor-Lotto), who started the day 59 seconds ahead of him. In turn, Evans gained 1:27 on Contador, who started the day 1:50 in front of Evans.
Leipheimer put to rest the possibility that he could try to unseat Evans from 2nd place on the final stage to Paris on Sunday. Traditionally, the overall rankings aren't contested in the last stage.
Noting that Discovery will have a 1 and 3 spot on the podium, Leipheimer said, “I think we're happy with that. Cadel doesn't have to worry, I'm not going to pull a Vinokourov on him.”
Leipheimer was referring to the Paris stage of 2005 when Alexander Vinokourov worked himself past Leipheimer into 5th place by going for the sprints and time bonuses.
“I've always dreamed of winning a stage of the Tour de France,” Leipheimer told a Versus commentator. “I feel I really deserve to stand on the podium in Paris.”
If the results don't change, Leipheimer will have earned a podium finish, while at the same time riding in support of teammate Contador during the latter stages of the race.
Meanwhile, Discovery Channel put a lock on the overall team classification competition by putting four men in the top 10 finishers in the time trial — Leipheimer, Contador, George Hincapie and Yaroslav Popovych.
Fresh off the jet from RAGBRAI, Lance Armstrong rode in the Discovery Channel car trailing Contador on the course. Earlier he rallied the troops.
Looking back, a 10-second penalty assessed to Leipheimer earlier in the Tour for getting a boost from a team car when he fell back with a mechanical problem has cost him 2nd place.
Leipheimer, winner of the 2007 Tour of California, previously had 3 Top 10 finishes in the Tour de France: 8th in 2002 (Rabobank), 9th in 2004 (Rabobank) and 6th in 2005 (Gerolsteiner). He finished 13th last year with Gerolsteiner.
Evans has an 8th and 5th place overall finish in the Tour.
The Top 10 going into Paris are:
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel
2 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor – Lotto — :23 behind
3 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel — :31
4 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC — 7:08
5 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel — 8:17
6 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne — 11:37
7 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile Team — 12:18
8 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel — 12:30
9 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Euskaltel — 14:14
10 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne — 14:25
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