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Leipheimer, Kristin Armstrong win Gila time trials
Levi continues New Mexican domination, with Zirbel second and Lance third
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Levi Leipheimer continued to stamp his authority on the SRAM Tour of the Gila, winning the 16-mile stage-3 time trial in a record time of 32:59. Bissell's Tom Zirbel placed second at 33:52 with Leipheimer's Mellow Johnny's teammate Lance Armstrong rounding out the podium.
In the women's race, Kristin Armstrong (Cervélo TestTeam) also broke a course record — Jeannie Longo's — winning her second stage in 37:36 and maintaining her overall lead. Alison Powers (Team Type 1) finished second, with Anne Samplonius (Lip Smacker) third.
It was a day of big gears, high speeds and high altitude. With two fast descents, many riders opted for large chainrings. Kristin Armstrong pushed a 56-tooth big ring. Zirbel and his Bissell teammate Ben Jacques-Maynes ran 58s. But Leipheimer used his usual 55-tooth ring.
2009 SRAM Tour of the Gila
- Stage 3: Tyrone time trial
- Men: 16.15 miles (25.9km)
- Stage winner: Levi Leipheimer (Mellow Johnny's) in 32:59
- Stage winner's average speed: 29.5 mph (47.3 kph)
- GC leader: Leipheimer
- Team GC leader: Bissell
- Stage 1 winner: Leipheimer
- Stage 2 winner: Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Colavita-Sutter Home)
- Women: 16.15 miles (25.9 km)
- Stage winner: Kristin Armstrong (Cervelo TestTeam) in 37:36
- Stage winner's average speed: 25.8 mph (41.5 kph)
- GC leader: Armstrong
- Team GC leader: ValueAct
- Stage 1 winner: Armstrong
- Stage 2 winner: Gina Grain (Webcor Builders)
- Up next: Stage 4
- Saturday's downtown Silver City criterium is held on a four-corner rectangle, with two steep little hills on the backside, separated by a roller coaster descent. The course has a wide descent that funnels into a narrower finish straight, with the finish line just 250 meters from the corner. Toyota-United Henk Vogels won the mens crit last year; he is now the Fly-V team director. Rachel Heal (Tibco) won the women's race last year. She is racing with Colavita this year.
"That's all we've got," he told VeloNews just before the start. "That's not where you win time trials." An official on a following motorcycle said Leiphiemer was hitting 58 to 60 mph on the outbound descent.
After the race, Leipheimer said simply that he had done his best to push himself. "I'm just doing my best, having fun."
Zirbel, who won the Gila TT last year, was about a half minute faster this year, but couldn't match Leipheimer.
"He's the best stage race time trialist in the world, so I'm not going to beat myself up about (finishing second)," Zirbel said, while allowing that "it's always better to win."
"I'm pleased with where I am at and I see the steps I need to make to get where I want to be. It's nice to be reminded of where I stand," he said with a chuckle.
Twenty-one year old Peter Stetina (Felt-Holowesko-Garmin) was fifth and maintained his second place on the GC.
Stetina knows Sunday's brutal Gila Monster stage well because his U23 team trains with the Garmin ProTour team in Silver City every winter. He said his team is heavily loaded with climbers who will thrive on the 106-mile route with more than 9,000 feet of climbing.
"We will have five guys left when everyone else has three, I'll guarantee that," Stetina said, laughing. "If Levi came here to train, we are going to make sure he gets overtrained!"
Lance Armstrong said after the race he was enjoying the low-key atmosphere at the Gila. But he said the TT was tough. "(It's) deceivingly hard. You have a lot of false flats. You have sections that end up being hard with the combination of the hills, the wind and the altitude. I think I buried myself a little bit in certain places and I couldn't bring it back due to the altitude."
"But it's not so bad. I felt good, considering. Classical old-style, old-school American time trial. Out and back. Hot dog turn in the middle. Pretty cool."
Director Merckx' debut behind the mike
With the course's notorious hills and winds, it was also a hairy day on the bike. Axel Merckx drove the Livestrong follow car behind Taylor Phinney, who hit 54mph through the turns on the outbound descent in a full tuck, his bike wiggling beneath him.
It was Merckx' first time in a time trial follow car as a team director and his debut as race radio coach of a TT rider. He quickly got into the role, urging on Phinney as he was passed by his 30-second man, Land Rover-Orbea's Mike Northey, on a climb. "Don't worry about it, keep going!" Merckx said, as Phinney seemed to struggle to find the right climbing gear. "Don't go too big!" Merckx said.
On the four-mile finish descent, Phinney re-passed Northey and the rider who started 30 seconds ahead of Phinney, Rock Racing's Sergio Hernandez. He finished 43rd in 36:45.
Armstrong stomps the women
Kristin Armstrong, who has said she is at the Gila in part to train for next month's Tour de l'Aude stage race in France, caught three women who started ahead of her, zooming down the descents at almost 50mph. With her big gear, she was able to pedal most of the descents, briefly going into a tuck on occasion.
Armstrong has a reputation as a focused, Type A personality, but she was surprisingly relaxed. When a motorcycle official told her to move to the right of cones on a climb, Armstrong had a little conversation with him, mentioning that it was a shorter line on the right, anyway. She sipped from her water bottle two or three times, once coasting for a couple seconds as she replaced it in its cage.
At the finish, Armstrong was bubbly about her performance, noting that she came off the aero bars on all the climbs, because the aero advantage is negligible at climbing speeds. It appeared to be another small skill that she was practicing, in her pursuit of a top performance in France next month and her goal of a second world TT championship this fall.
