| LEIPHEIMER PADS OVERALL LEAD WITH TIME TRIAL WIN IN SOLVANG |
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| Written by USA Cycling | |
| Saturday, 24 February 2007 | |
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McCartney Moves into Third Overall Solvang, Calif. - Levi Leipheimer (Santa Rosa, Calif./Discovery Channel) extended his overall lead over German Jens Voigt (CSC) in the AMGEN Tour of California with a victory in the stage-five time trial in Solvang on Friday. Leipheimer clocked a winning time of 29 minutes, 40.44 seconds to win the 23.5-kilometer race against the clock. In doing so, he added an additional 18 seconds to his overall lead. Entering stage five, Leipheimer held a slim three-second advantage over Basso, but ended the day 21 seconds up on the German who placed second in the stage. Jason McCartney (Coralville, Iowa/Discovery Channel) added to the Americans' success with a third-place effort on the day, 24 seconds off the pace of Leipheimer. McCartney's efforts moved him from 20th place to third in the overall classification. The two remaining USA Cycling National Development Team riders in the eight-day event - Brent Bookwalter (Cedar Springs, Mich./VMG Racing) and Caleb Fairly (Amarillo, Texas/VMG Racing) - placed 94th and 123rd respectively. Bookwalter now sits 15th overall in the Best Young Rider classification, 15:07 behind Robert Gesink of the Netherlands. In the general classification, Bookwalter is ranked 87th, 16:57 behind Leipheimer, while Fairly is 121st, 26:36 off the pace. Barring any unforeseen disaster, Leipheimer is likely to win the second-annual AMGEN Tour of California and become the first winner of a USA Cycling Professional Tour event. With just two stages remaining - Saturday's trip from Santa Barbara to Santa Clarita and Sunday's circuit race in Long Beach - Leipheimer's 21-second advantage over Basso, plus the strength of his Discovery Channel squad should be enough to hold onto the same yellow jersey he pulled on after the opening prologue in San Francisco last Sunday. McCartney's solid result came one place ahead of reigning world time trial champion, Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland while Americans George Hincapie (Greenville, S.C./Discovery Channel), Bobby Julich (Glenwood Springs, Colo./CSC) and Christian VandeVelde (Boulder, Colo./CSC) placed 5-7 respectively. 2007 USA Cycling Professional Tour AMGEN Tour of California February 18-25 Stage Five Results - Solvang - 23.5 kilometers 1. Levi Leipheimer (Santa Rosa, Calif.) 29:40.44 2. Jens Voigt (GER) +18.07 3. Jason McCartney (Coralville, Iowa) +24.70 94. Brent Bookwalter (Cedar Springs, Mich.) +4:10.82 123. Caleb Fairly (Amarillo, Texas) +5:39.88 General Classification after Stage Five 1. Levi Leipheimer 18:21:52 2. Jens Voigt +0:21 3. Jason McCartney +0:54 87. Brent Bookwalter +16:57 121. Caleb Fairly +26:36 For complete results, visit www.tourofcalifornia.com |
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| Last Updated ( Sunday, 25 February 2007 ) |
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