Sunday, May 3, 2009

Levi Leipheimer Secures Gila Win


American Levi Leipheimer took home the win in the Tour of the Gila overall classification on Sunday. The Astana rider participated in the national event under the jersey of Mellow Johnny's, the bicycle shop of Lance Armstrong. The final stage was won by Fly V Australia's Phil Zajicek, who was thrilled to defeat ProTour riders Armstrong and Leipheimer to the line after 170.2km and 2,780m of climbing.

With his second place finish on the stage, Armstrong moved into second overall behind Leipheimer. Zajicek jumped over Rock Racing's Chris Baldwin and Peter Stetina (Felt-Holowesko Partners-Garmin), who was reportedly suffering from intestinal problems during the final stage.

The sometimes treacherous "Gila Monster" stage lived up to its reputation with several crashes. World pursuit champion Taylor Phinney went down less than 10km into the stage. OUCH Pro Cycling's Cameron Evans, Scott Nydam (Team B/BMC) and Matt Cooke (RideClean) also crashed out.

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