I've always been somewhat of a Levi Leipheimer fan for his sheer talent as a mountain climber, time trialist, and all'round good guy, but his laid-back California vibe and outlook on things including racing, seems so counter to the killer instinct we all (well maybe me anyway) normally associated with true champions. Today that all kinda changed for me. Levi hung around until the final climb today and rode everyone off his wheel except for one scrappy guy from Rabobank named Robert Gesink. They cleared the top of the Sierra Road maybe a minute ahead of a dangerous group of 12 or so.
Levi's tactics from then on in went, to me, about as picture perfect as one could imagine. He used Gesink, trading pulls the last 20k or so, pulling just enough to keep the two far enough from the charging pack to assure he'd be in the yellow jersey tonight. Gesink was completely spent, mouth open, tongue out, dead, but Levi graciously let him take the stage win. Gesink has a bright future, and Levi has bigger fish to fry, namely, the GC win this year in the Tour of California.
The Time Trial in a few days will probably determine who wins this year, and Fabian Cancellara, right behind Levi in the GC is a DANGEROUS rider. I can't wait to see it, but I have a feeling Levi is not going to disappoint.
Tonight's Training: 1 hour: 5 minutes on the Trainer with 3x5 out of the saddle intervals in high gear. Thinking about riding the Tradezone Training Race Sunday. hmmmmmm, should I?
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