Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Associated Press
LONG BEACH, Calif. - Levi Leipheimer won the Amgen Tour of California on Sunday having never trailed in the eight-day race.
Leipheimer, a three-time top-10 Tour de France finisher, completed 639.2-mile race with a 21-second advantage over Jens Voigt of Germany.
The Discovery Channel rider took the lead with a 1-second win in the prologue Feb. 18 in San Francisco. He maintained a lead of no more than 3 seconds until he dominated the individual time trial fifth stage last Friday in Solvang.
"We knew that the other teams would be aggressive and that it just wasn't going to be parade-laps around-the-circuits day," said Leipheimer, who finished sixth last year. "We counted on the other teams wanting to win the stage. We just tried to keep the gaps close."
His teammate, Jason McCartney, was third overall, 54 seconds back.
Cuba's Ivan Dominguez won the final stage, surging in the final 25 yards to edge Australia's Graeme Brown by less than a foot in the 77.5-mile, seventh-stage circuit race in 2 hours, 39 minutes and 28 seconds.
Gerald Ciolek of Germany was third in the same time as the top two finishers.
"When we were on the podium, I thanked Jens for such a great race," Leipheimer said. "The race was more aggressive this year and it's one of the most satisfying wins of my career."