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This report filed June 18, 2007

Discovery Channel captain Levi Leipheimer is okay despite a fall in Sunday’s final stage of the Dauphiné Libéré.

Frustrating, but no major injuries.

Sport director Johan Bruyneel said Leipheimer wasn’t seriously injured when he slipped on rain-soaked roads while attacking for victory with about 4km to go to Annecy. A frustrated Leipheimer could only watch Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) ride past him and secure the stage victory.

“He’s fine. He hit the side of the round-about. There’s no problem,” Bruyneel told VeloNews. “It was very slippery and he was risking a little bit because he was by himself.”

The defending Dauphiné champion was feeling better Sunday after suffering through the Dauphiné’s decisive climbing stages with a bad stomach that also forced the early departures of George Hincapie and Bobby Julich.

In Saturday’s seven-climb stage into Valloire, Leipheimer’s stomach was so bad all he could eat all day was one energy gel and subsequently lost contact with the leaders on the Cat. 1 Col du Télégraphe to fall out of sixth place.

“He was feeling a lot better yesterday. The day of the Télégraphe, he couldn’t eat all. When he woke up in the morning, he said he felt better and he could eat breakfast,” Bruyneel said. “It was a shorter stage and felt better as the stage developed.”

Bruyneel said he wasn’t worried about Leipheimer’s stomach problems and said they wouldn’t present any difficulties or setbacks for his preparation ahead of the Tour de France.

Leipheimer and his Discovery Channel teammates have already scouted the decisive climbing stages for next month’s Tour. The team first visited the Pyrenees and the Alps ahead of the Dauphiné.

Some Tour-bound riders will compete in the team time trial event later this month in Holland while the Europeans will battle for their respective national championships at the end of this month.

“The feeling after the Dauphiné is that everyone is in good shape,” Bruyneel said. “We still have a little room for improvement, but the team will be ready.”

By Andrew Hood, VeloNews European correspondent