Bicycle .net :: Leipheimer Retains The Lead, As Haedo Wins Stage 2 At Tour of the Gila

Leipheimer Retains The Lead, As Haedo Wins Stage 2 At Tour of the Gila

By editor on April 30th, 2009

The 2nd stage of the Tour of the Gila started with Levi Leipheimer in leaders jersey, and it ended the same way. Leipheimer who is riding in the kit of his famous teammate Lance Armstrong’s Austin Bicycle Store, “Mellow Johnny’s, came in to the finish with the main pack. All three Astana teammates (Armstrong, Leipheimer, Horner) are using the Tour of the Gila as a tune up race before the Giro d’Italia.

The race finish came down to a bunch sprint with the stage winner being Sebastian Haedo (Colavita-Sutter Home).

There were many attacks, but the most noticeable included Floyd Landis (Ouch Pro Cycling). The break had gained around four minutes and looked like it might stick until some of the domestic teams joined the fight and were able to reel the break back to set up the field sprint.

“We got some help from Kelly Benefit Strategies and from Bissell and Team Gila Hike and Bike [BMC riders] today,” Leipheimer said. “Kelly Benefits were pretty professional today. They came up to help close the gap. In the end someone else won, but I recognized their effort.”

“The stages are short so I think it is a perfect way to taper the volume but keep some intensity.” Leipheimer said.

With Leipheimer holding a 49 second lead going into the 3rd stage 25km time trial over Peter Stetina (Garmin-Holowesko Partners-Felt), and a lead of one minute over third place Chris Baldwin (Rock Racing), it looks like Leipheimer will very likely be spending another day in the leader’s jersey.

The Womens Race
Webcor’s rider Gina Grain pulled out a fantaztic win in a sprint finish after her Webcor teammates with the help Colavita-Sutter Home worked to bring back ValueAct’s Nicole Evans, who was away for much of the day on a solo break.