Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Lance and Others at the Tour of Gila

The various reports from SSR members who made the trip to Silver city to see the Tour of Gila keep coming in. Catharine sent the following photos and AP press snippet. I've also added a video taken by my friend Silver, who went home to watch the race. It shows the pro men shooting by during the crit.







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ASSOCIATED PRESS
PINOS ALTOS, N.M. -- The last big test for Lance Armstrong before the Giro d'Italia was more than 105 miles of steep roads and windy descents in the
mountains of southwestern New Mexico.

It was the hardest stage of the Tour of the Gila, but Armstrong and his
teammates Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner passed the test. The Astana
riders, who entered the five-day event as independents, used the tour as a
tune up for the upcoming race in Italy.

Armstrong said he feels good enough to be a contender for some stage wins in
Italy but that Leipheimer has the best chance for an overall win.

"The first priority is to protect him and make sure that he fulfills his
potential there," the seven-time Tour de France winner said. "It would be an
amazing thing for an American to win the tour of Italy again. I'd be pleased
to be there and help."

Leipheimer won the Tour of the Gila on Sunday after finishing first in two
of the early stages and coming in third behind Armstrong in the last stage,
dubbed the Gila Monster. Armstrong moved up in the overall classification
from fourth to second after Sunday's stage.

The Astana riders, who were wearing the kits of Armstrong's Mellow Johnny's
bike shop, moved to the front of the peloton as it closed a gap of more than
three minutes that had been built by a breakaway of 11 riders in the first
40 miles of the stage.

At the start of a 7-mile, 1,600-foot climb to Copperas Vista, the Mellow
Johnny's riders caught the lead pack. With Horner in front, he and
Leipheimer positioned to get Armstrong the stage win.

It looked like it was going to happen until the last 500 meters.

"I didn't know the finish. I didn't know it was so much uphill. I thought
maybe it would flatten out and there'd be a high-speed sprint ... but it
kept going up," Armstrong said.

He was caught behind the wheel of another rider and had to go around. By
that time, Leipheimer was ahead with first-place finisher Philip Zajicek on
his wheel.

"When I finally got back to the wheel uphill, I was cooked," Armstrong said.

Astana general manager Johan Bruyneel said the plan Sunday was for Armstrong
to win the stage.

"It didn't really play out like we wanted it to be," he said. "It's a little
disappointment he didn't win the stage, but overall I think it was a good
race for the team."

It's also been a few good days for southwestern New Mexico. Several thousand
people crammed downtown Silver City on Saturday to watch the criteriums and
hundreds of people lined nearby Pinos Altos' main street to watch Sunday's
finish.

Leipheimer, who also won the Tour of California and the Vuelta of Castilla
and Leon this season, said he's proud to grab another title with the Tour of
the Gila. He said events like the Gila go a long way in igniting interest in
American cycling.

For the fans in New Mexico, Armstrong had one last message on his Twitter
post: "Thanks to everyone here for showing us a great time. This is a great
(and hard!) race."

The riders are now on their way to Italy to be tested yet again.

"With the Giro, we'll just take it day by day, kilometer by kilometer and
just sort of have fun and do our best," Leipheimer said.

There is a long list of Italians who will also be vying for the Giro's pink
jersey, he said, including former winners Ivan Basso and Danilo Di Luca and
Franco Pellizotti.

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