Mountains start went to Discovery plan

By Brecht Decaluwé in Le Grand-Bornand

Discovery Channel's team leader, Levi Leipheimer, says the start of the mountain's stages in this year's Tour de France are going exactly to plan for the American and his squad. Leipheimer was never in trouble on the stage to Le Grand-Bornand and seemed to have no trouble with the pace of the peloton.

"It went as planned," he confirmed. "There were about as many riders over the top as I expected, maybe a few less. It was a hot day so it was important to eat and drink a lot. It was a perfect day in the mountains and I'm sure there was a selection made but I didn't look around too much, I just focused on staying in the front."

Discovery Channel had around five of its riders in the main peloton, which contained all of the general classification contenders that made it over the Col de la Colombière. "That was the plan. Too bad that the breakaway wasn't within reach because I felt that Popovych had a good chance, tomorrow there's another day," Leipheimer stated, looking forward to another day in the mountains.