Leipheimer takes narrow victory in Vail

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One day after relinquishing his general classification lead, Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) powered to a narrow victory in the 16.1km Vail time trial and took back the yellow jersey from young talent Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Highroad).

Leipheimer, kitted out in the green points leader's skinsuit, edged Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Cervelo) by 58 hundredths of a second to take his second victory of the inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge, while Rafael Infantino (EPM-UNE), the first rider across Independence Pass the previous day, was a surprise third place finisher four seconds back.

"I never expected it to be a half a second," said Leipheimer. "I suspected Christian was going to be my strongest competitor. I've said it a couple of times already but I consider Christian and I to share this victory. We are good friends, neighbours in Spain and we've both been doing this a long time. We've been in the trenches over there for a decade. Old guys are showing that we still got it, like George [Hincapie] said yesterday."

The time trial, which climbed nearly 1,800 feet from Vail Village up Vail Pass, provided a stern test for the peloton's chrono stalwarts. Huge crowds sent off each rider with raucous applause while the final kilometres proved again to be a tunnel of noise from the tifosi out in force.

"There was not a lot of thought besides, 'please God let this be over.' You have to have the experience and tactics to know how to meter yourself because it was an uphill time trial that got harder as the course went on and at altitude," said Leipheimer. "Even though I held back a little bit in the beginning, I was done with one kilometre to go.

"The fans helped me get through and the fact that I knew I had the best split time helped me. That last kilometre really, really hurt. It is difficult to put it into words, you have to get on the bike and try it for yourself."

Leipheimer found motivation today from the comments made by overnight race leader Tejay Van Garderen, who said he took advantage of Leipheimer's tentative descent of Independence Pass.

"Yes it [Van Garderen's comment] motivated me," said Leipheimer. "Tejay made a good point, you have to be able to descend well and climb well. I made a mistake of not putting on my rain jacket on the top and I wasn't doing very well when the rain came down on the descent. I was having problems handling my bike. The point he made was absolutely fair, that if you make a mistake someone will take the race lead from you. It definitely motivated me for today."

Vande Velde, who started fourth from last, bumped Infantino from the hot seat by four seconds, but only two minutes later Leipheimer topped the Garmin-Cervelo rider's time by fractions of a second.

"It was heart breaking," said Vande Velde. "I was closer than I ever thought it would have been in the prologue. I knew this race was going to come down to seconds and that is why I didn't take the prologue lightly and I was bummed on the first stage when I missed Levi go up the road. Of course after yesterday I was ready to do horrible things after I missed the boat on that downhill. On the same token I was unbelievably motivated for today and I couldn't wait to take the start ramp and I wanted to rip the pedals off at the start.

"I prepared for the Tour de France here 10 years ago. I've ridden it many times in hail, snow and sunshine. I had this stage picked out weeks ago. I know these roads, like a lot of people did, I knew it suited my characteristics as a bike rider."

After announcing that he suffered a bout of gastroenteritis the previous evening, Tom Danielson (Garmin-Cervelo) completed the uphill race of truth in fourth place, 33 seconds off the pace of Leipheimer, while Dutch time trial champion Stef Clement (Rabobank) stopped the clock for fifth place at 40 seconds.

Tejay Van Garderen, the final rider out of the start house in Vail Village, finished sixth, 51 seconds down on Leipheimer, and dropped to third overall. While the HTC-Highroad now holds a commanding lead in the young rider's classification, the loss of the leader's jersey was a bitter pill to swallow as he collapsed onto the grass on the edge of the road after the finish from his efforts.

Same as it ever was

The top three and their respective time gaps are once again exactly as they were after the stage 1 finish in Mt. Crested Butte with Leipheimer leading Vande Velde by 11 seconds and Van Garderen by 17 seconds. While the Vail time trial was considered the best opportunity to open large time gaps amongst the GC favourite, the top five riders are separated by only 53 seconds.

Leipheimer is all too aware of the events which can re-shuffle the general classification and he's cautiously optimistic about the event's three remaining stages.

"There is time bonuses, wind and still some climbing left," said Leipheimer. "The race can change and turn on its head at any moment. There are a lot of unknown factors like crashes. We saw a very bad crash yesterday and that was right on my shoulder, I was very lucky to miss that. That is something you can't control. Anything can happen and you have to keep that in your head, stay alert and don't make any mistakes.

"I'm on the defensive, not on the offensive and these next few days are daunting for myself and for my team. But, we are very motivated. I gave the jersey up once and I'm telling you I really don't want to give it up again.

Coors Classic redux

In an homage to Colorado's legendary Coors Classic stage race, the Vail time trial course, which appeared in the final edition in 1988, is the only complete stage to make an appearance in the USA Pro Cycling Challenge. The best-ever time from the Coors Classic era was notched by Andy Hampsten, who completed the course in 26:33. That time was recently bested by Australia's Ben Day, who set the new mark of 25:48. The record was expected to fall with the depth of ProTour time trial talent in the USA Pro Cycling Challenge peloton, but the question on everyone's mind was how much faster the course would be covered.

RadioShack's Jason McCartney, the 12th rider to start, set the early best time of 27:26.73. Six-time and reigning US time trial champion David Zabriskie (Garmin-Cervelo) would bump McCartney from the hot seat with a time of 26:46.50, and while German strongman Jens Voigt would come within three seconds of Zabriskie, the Garmin-Cervelo rider's time would hold until deep into the day's starters.

Rafael Infantino (EPM-UNE) parlayed his climbing ability and time trial talent into a time of 25:51.52, nearly one minute faster than Zabriskie and three seconds shy of the course's record.

It wasn't until the final handful of riders rolled out of Vail Village that the Colombian's time would be threatened. Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Cervelo), runner-up in the prologue time trial in Colorado Springs, knocked Infantino from the top with a time of 25:47.66, fractions of a second faster than Day's course record. Vande Velde would hardly have any time to relish his effort as two minutes later Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) dug deep to top the Garmin-Cervelo rider by the slimmest of margins with a time of 25:47.08.

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