Team RadioShack’s Levi Leipheimer secured his overall win in the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah ( USA) on Sunday. He accomplished this without any teammate throughout the 6-day race. Leipheimer rode the national event as the only individual rider in the Mellow Johnny’s jersey. Australian rider Jai Crawford (Fly V Australia) won the last stage, the 164 km/102 mi challenging queen stage from Park City to the top of Snowbird Ski Resort.
Jai Crawford rode away from Marc de Maar (United Healthcare-Maxxis) midway up Little Cottonwood Canyon to take the mountaintop win at Snowbird Ski Resort. Levi Leipheimer rode away from his rivals up the final climb to finish second, on Crawford’s wheel, and seal the overall victory. His victory came ahead of last year’s winner, Francisco Mancebo (Canyon), who finished second.
“The fact that the whole week was a hard profile, hard course, took away a lot of tactics and played into my favour,” Leipheimer explained. “Today I was able to control a little bit on the climbs. When it was just Mancebo and I on the climb left, I thought well now I have to go. Unfortunately, Mancebo pulled for a long time, even before the climb, so he couldn’t stay with me, but I figured I better go. I wanted to be safe. I didn’t know exactly who was up the road or how many guys. When I caught Crawford, I was safe, I was going to win the overall race. I had done a big effort to get there but there was no denying the fact that he earned the stage more than me. I think it would have been wrong to sprint him for the win.”
Levi Leipheimer conquered the yellow leader’s jersey after the second stage on Thursday. He showed he is in top form. “It was a great week for me,” 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 ProTour races in Quebec and Montreal.”
Final General Classification:
1 Levi Leipheimer 12:39:40;
2 Francisco Mancebo 02:30;
3 Ian Boswell 03:56;
4 Jai Crawford 03:58;
5 Darren Lill 04:32;
6 Pat McCarty 04:36;
7 Lachlan Morton 05:08;
8 Alex Hagman 05:48;
9 Cesar Grajales 06:56;
10 Tyler Wren 07:07
Source: Team Radioshack Press Release
team radio shack
good news levi wins rase, now all members to congratulation
saliya weerakkody (sri lanka)
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Superb. Levi didn’t just hang on to the lead but expanded the gap back to Mancebo.
Determination. That’s what was needed. That’s what was delivered. Chapeau.
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Awsome! Awsome! Awsome Levi. So thrilled for you. You rode like a superstar to victory for Mellow Johnny. Oh, did I forget to say “you rock.”
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You Da Man Levi.
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Congratulations Levi!! It was great having you race here in Utah. I was ringing the bell for you on the climb to Snowbird. Please come back next year and bring some more of your friends.
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