Prologue: Le Pontet - Avignon 6km
Dauphine: Levi Leipheimer wins prologue
Levi Leipheimer continues to beat his foes, and the clock. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images))
American Levi Leipheimer won the opening prologue of the Dauphine Libere, which usually serves as an appetiser for the Tour de France, in Avignon, France Sunday.
The event's 2006 champion beat out Norway's Thor Hushovd by one second and was six seconds ahead of Spain's Alejandro Valverde over the 5.6km course.
Leipheimer kept up the success of his Astana team just a week after Spaniard Alberto Contador, the reigning Tour de France champion, added the Tour of Italy crown to his record. The American rider was followed in the car by team manager Johan Bruyneel, who was impressed by the performance of his leader.
“Levi’s last kilometer was especially impressive,” Bruyneel said. “Since he was one of the last riders to start, we knew most intermediate times. With one kilometre to go, Levi still was one second behind specialist Thor Hushovd. We knew that Levi was ready for this job; he couldn’t have had a better start.”
The fastest man on the flat circuit between Le Pontet and Avignon was of course more than happy.
“You always hope to win, but it is so unpredictable, races over such a short distance," Leipheimer said. "I knew my condition was very good. Many people had their doubts about me after the Giro, but we knew better. Don’t forget that I was in California and in moderate training mode before getting the last-second call to ride the Giro. I crashed the first week and had cheek and elbow injuries.
"As I could not get a good classification in the Giro, I worked 100 percent for Alberto Contador in the mountains," he added. "I felt the last week in Italy that my condition was getting better and better. I hope to continue that way. My teammates believe in me. I’m not planning to shake their confidence."
Australia's Cadel Evans, who finished second overall in last year's Tour de France, finished in sixth spot, 13 seconds behind the winner.
Spanish hopes for the Dauphine overall title -- Samuel Sanchez, Carlos Sastre and Oscar Pereiro -- all finished further back. Sanchez was 16 seconds behind Leipheimer, Castres was 17 seconds from the leader and Pereiro had a 21 second deficit.
On this fast, flat section favouring the strong riders, Leipheimer averaged 54km/h and had the help of a strong tail wind, from which the last quarter of the field benefited, in the final kilometre.
Leipheimer is an accomplished time trialer. He won the final race against the clock in last year's Tour de France where he finished third overall.
For a complete report with photos, visit Cyclingnews.com.
© BikeRadar & AFP 2008
