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Leipheimer wins final TT; Contador locks up Vuelta
Leipheimer-Contador tied overall without time bonuses
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How close was it between Levi Leipheimer and Alberto Contador in Saturday’s nail-biting 17.1km time trial at the Vuelta a España? Very close.
Leipheimer gave his Astana teammate a scare and blasted up the Cat. 1 Puerto de Navacerrada to win his second time trial stage at this year’s Vuelta and chewed considerably into Contador’s 1:17 head start in the Vuelta’s penultimate stage.
Leipheimer stopped the clock in 33 minutes, 6 seconds (30.997kph), 31 seconds faster than Contador and Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) to secure second place overall.
“I never thought that I would be able to win the Vuelta. The goal was to win the stage,” said Leipheimer, who became the first American to finish on the Vuelta podium with third in 2001. “I’m really happy to win. It was a hard effort.”
In the end, Contador escaped with a 46-second lead and has all but won the 63rd Vuelta already and will wear the leaders jersey on the final stage when it concludes with Sunday’s ceremonial spin into Madrid.
Stage 20, San Ildefonso to Alto de Navacerrada, 17.1km
● Winner: Levi Leipheimer (Astana) wins his second stage and secures second place overall.
● Leader: Alberto Contador (Astana) maintained his lead, but saw it reduced to 46 seconds over Leipheimer.
● Points: Greg Van Avermaet (Silence-Lotto) retained his lead to Contador.
● KoM: David Moncoutie (Cofidis) leads Christoph Kern (Credit Agricole). Moncoutie need only finish the Vuelta to secure the jersey.
● Combined: Contador retains the jersey.
● Team: Caisse d’Epargne maintained its lead, with CSC-Saxo Bank second.
● Peloton: 131 riders head into Sunday’s finale.
Leipheimer locked second place with Carlos Sastre (CSC-Saxo Bank) securing third to go along with his Tour de France victory in July.
“Leipheimer was very strong and they were really animating me from behind to keep pushing. I knew that if I didn’t have any sort of troubles, I would be able to keep the jersey,” said Contador. “When a victory is difficult to achieve, it tastes better. Now I can start to enjoy this a little bit.”
The climbing time trial from San Ildefonso to the Navacerrada pass was the final battleground in the 2008 Vuelta. It was supposed to be a coronation parade for Contador, but Leipheimer made his younger teammate work for it.
Leipheimer took 11 seconds out of Contador in the first 9km, on false-flat, slightly rising terrain. The gap stayed the same at 12km halfway up the climbing section, but Leipheimer took an additional 20 seconds in the final 5km.
“It was kind of rolling in the beginning, but there was no room for recovery,” he said. “I’ve learned from my experience to save a little and not go 100 percent in the beginning. I had the best references to Contador, who started behind me, and I went as hard as I could in the final part.”
Contador seemed to be struggling in the final ramps of the climb, but also knew that the stage victory was out of range and was riding to defend his overall lead.
“The legs weren’t as good today as I hoped. When I realized that I wasn’t going to win the stage, I rode more regular to conserve the lead,” Contador said. “I have to admit that I thought about the possibility of losing the Vuelta. When you’re going bad, anything is possible, but I was able to keep it together.”
Tie-breaker
The showdown between the Astana teammates highlighted how much the pair dominated the Vuelta. Contador was front and center as the local favorite with Leipheimer riding in his shadow away from the brunt of the media crush.
Even more interesting; had the Vuelta followed the lead of this year’s Tour, and not offered time bonuses, Leipheimer and Contador would have tied for the overall.
Contador earned 58 seconds in bonuses, including 40 seconds in his two stage victories. Leipheimer earned 12 seconds in bonuses, from his second place at Fuentes de Invierno, but didn’t earn any bonuses in his two time trial victories.
The tie-breaker, measured in decimals taken in time trials, would have tilted toward Contador, however. Contador’s decimals were 0.0570 while Leipheimer’s came down to 0.1240.
Making history
With the Vuelta all but wrapped up, Contador nears completing the grand tour triple crown. After winning the Tour in 2007 and the Giro d’Italia in May, Contador will become the fifth rider to achieve the landmark and the youngest to complete the sweep.
“Until now I didn’t want to think too much about the history because we still had a lot of racing,” Contador said. “Now I can start to enjoy this a little bit.”
Contador matches the feat set by cycling’s legends, Jacques Anquetil, Felice Gimondi, Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault.
Anquetil was the first to complete cycling’s grand tour sweep, with five Tours, two Giros and one Vuelta between 1957-1964. Gimondi became the second, winning one Tour, three Giros and one Vuelta from 1965-1976.
Merckx, who holds the record with the most grand tour victories at 11, won five Tours, five Giros and one Vuelta from 1969-1974. Hinault held the record for claiming all three within the shortest time frame, winning the first of five Tours in 1978, his first of two Vueltas in 1978 and one of three Giros in 1980, within a period of 26 months.
With the sweep, the 25-year-old Spanish climber is poised to become cycling’s next big star, something he says he’s not worried about.
“Whichever race I’ve gone to this year I’ve been the man to beat and it’s going to continue like that. I don’t give it much important,” Contador said. “I’m living a dream. My first dream was to race as a pro, my second dream was to race the Tour, my third dream was to win the Tour – I’ve done all that, so it’s like a dream come true.”
Despite the close knot atop the GC, Leipheimer only lauded his younger teammate.
“A big factor was that Alberto was the big favorite and I was pretty relaxed. For him to carry that weight, with all the fans of Spain looking to him and to win his third grand tour in the shortest time in history, he really deserves this,” he said. “He performed when he needed to – there’s no discussion.”
Leipheimer made his own history. He remains the only American to finish on the Vuelta podium and becomes the first Americans to win more than one stage in the Vuelta.
Jason McCartney, Dave Zabriskie, Tom Danielson and Guido Trenti (an Italian with a U.S. license) all have won one stage each.
Sastre secures third
The final spot on the podium was also up for grabs, but Carlos Sastre (CSC-Saxo Bank) had plenty in the tank to fend off Ezequiel Mosquera (Xacobeo-Galicia) to retain his grip on third place.
Mosquera started the stage fourth at 54 seconds behind the Tour de France champion and held out hope that he could bounce into third with a strong ride.
But it was Sastre who served up the superb performance, finishing fourth with a time of 34:08 to retain third, now 4:12 behind Contador.
“I never had any problems. My teammates always supported me all the time and I can only say thanks to them. It wasn’t easy on the stage. Mosquera was very strong in the final week. It cost me a lot to maintain the third place and I am very satisfied. I am content and I’ve been able to enjoy the past few days.”
Mosquera stayed fourth overall, now at 5:19 back, to improve on his fifth place last year in his grand tour at the ripe age of 31.
“I gave everything I had today with hopes of surpassing Sastre, but you could see he was very strong. I heard the time differences and I knew straight away it was going to be difficult,” Mosquera said. “I improved on my fifth place from last year, so maybe next year I can improve again and claim the podium.”
And the others
The climbing time trial wasn’t just about the favorites.
Andreas Kloden (Astana) put down an early fast time of that stood for 10th, which helped set time references for both Leipheimer and Contador.
Another strong performance was by Marzio Bruseghin (Lampre), who, along with Erik Zabel (Milram), raced in all three grand tours this year.
Bruseghin, third overall at this year’s Giro d’Italia, stopped the clock at 1:31 back, good enough to slot into the top 10 overall .
“I wanted to make all three grand tours this year and take advantage of my form. Things have gone better than I could have imagined during this Vuelta,” Bruseghin said. “Now we’re going to see if we can do something in the worlds.”
Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne), who lost chances of victory when he gave up more than three minutes in a transition stage into Suances in the second week, stopped the clock in 33:37 and took enough time out of Robert Gesink (Rabobank) to move from fifth to sixth.
Although the Vuelta is no longer part of the series, Valverde also secured overall victory in the ProTour, which concluded Saturday with the Tour of Poland.
“I felt very good and decided to give it all in the time trial. The result tells me that I was right to do so and the fact that I finished in the same time as Contador is a great satisfaction for me,” Valverde said. “There is one stage left to go and I cannot forget the mistake I made in the stage of Suances, who take away from me the possibility to climb tomorrow on the podium.”
Joaquin Rodriguez (Caisse d’Epargne) also bumped ahead of Gesink, moving from seventh to sixth as the Dutch climber could only muster ninth in the stage and fell from fifth to seventh overall in his grand tour debut.
“It was very hard today, but I went as hard as I could. In the end, you get what you deserve,” Gesink said. “Of course, I would have liked to have stay fifth, but with this seventh in my first big tour, I have to be satisfied.”
Sunday’s stage
The 63rd Vuelta concludes Sunday with a largely ceremonial stage that ends with eight laps on the Paseo de Prado in downtown Madrid.
The flat stage starts in the suburb of San Sebastián de los Reyes, a suburb north of Madrid, the home of Astana manager Johan Bruyneel.
Much like the final stage of the Tour de France, racing typically doesn’t begin in earnest until the hit the final laps on the 6km circuit in front of such landmarks as the Prado museum and the Cibeles fountain.
Contador is sure to have thousands of fans pouring in from his nearby hometown of El Pinto.
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