ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)—Lance Armstrong is returning to the Tour of the Gila.
The seven-time Tour de France champion competed in the New Mexico event last year and has decided to return for next week’s five-day race, held in the Silver City area.
“Not only do the state and the local fans embrace this race, but the terrain, competition, and timing is perfect,” Armstrong said in a statement released by bicycle components manufacturer Sram Corp., the event’s title sponsor.
“We are looking forward to taking the start in Silver City. It’s a great event,” he said.
Armstrong will be joined by his friend and teammate, Levi Leipheimer, who claimed two stage victories in winning last year’s Tour of the Gila overall title. Armstrong finished second.
“The second time around is even better,” race director Jack Brennan said Wednesday. “They saw the race. They experienced it and they wanted to come back. They had a good experience last year. They found the race to be of value in their preparation for the Tour of California and the Tour de France.”
Jason McCartney, another member of Armstrong’s Team RadioShack, will join them.
However, the three Team RadioShack cyclists will compete independently of their squad because of a rule barring ProTour teams from national level events. Like last year, Armstrong will wear the kit of the Mellow Johnny’s bike shop in Austin, Texas.
Chris Horner raced with Armstrong and Leipheimer in 2009, when all three were members of the Astana team.
Armstrong wasn’t expected to come back to New Mexico, but he’ll be on the start line Wednesday. The race, which covers 339 miles and features 25,231 feet of climbing, runs through May 2.
Last year, the Tour of the Gila fit into Armstrong’s comeback schedule as he recovered from a broken collarbone. While it helped him prepare for the Giro d’Italia, team general manager Johan Bruyneel indicated then that Armstrong and Leipheimer normally wouldn’t have attended the Gila.
Armstrong changed his mind, encouraged not only by Silver City’s support of the race but because the Gila competition will again feature his developmental squad. The Trek-Livestrong team is led by young talent Taylor Phinney.
Showing posts with label Levi Leipheimer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Levi Leipheimer. Show all posts
Presenting Team RadioShack
Monday, November 23, 2009 0 comments
Lance Armstrong’s new RadioShack racing team is getting ready to ride.
Team manager Johan Bruyneel announced a 26-rider lineup for 2010 on Monday, including Armstrong’s former Astana teammates Levi Leipheimer, Andreas Kloeden and Yaroslav Popovych.
Armstrong, a seven-time Tour de France champion, came out of retirement to race the 2009 tour with Astana and finished third at age 37, making him the second-oldest rider to make the podium.
But there was friction with teammate and race winner Alberto Contador, and Armstrong struck out to form his own team where he could be the lead rider again. Bruyneel directed all of Armstrong’s seven tour victories and was with Astana in 2009.
RadioShack draws riders from 16 countries, and Bruyneel called it a good mix of experience and youth.
Kloeden finished sixth at the 2009 Tour de France. Leipheimer was in fourth after 12 stages when he broke his wrist and had to withdraw. Also joining RadioShack from Astana is Haimar Zubeldia.
“Our main goal will be the Tour de France and other stage races, but I am confident that, with these riders, we can perform very well in the one-day races as well,” Bruyneel said.
The team has scheduled a two-week training camp in Tucson, Ariz. in December. It is scheduled to make its racing debut at the 2010 Tour Down Under in Australia.
Team manager Johan Bruyneel announced a 26-rider lineup for 2010 on Monday, including Armstrong’s former Astana teammates Levi Leipheimer, Andreas Kloeden and Yaroslav Popovych.
Armstrong, a seven-time Tour de France champion, came out of retirement to race the 2009 tour with Astana and finished third at age 37, making him the second-oldest rider to make the podium.
But there was friction with teammate and race winner Alberto Contador, and Armstrong struck out to form his own team where he could be the lead rider again. Bruyneel directed all of Armstrong’s seven tour victories and was with Astana in 2009.
RadioShack draws riders from 16 countries, and Bruyneel called it a good mix of experience and youth.
Kloeden finished sixth at the 2009 Tour de France. Leipheimer was in fourth after 12 stages when he broke his wrist and had to withdraw. Also joining RadioShack from Astana is Haimar Zubeldia.
“Our main goal will be the Tour de France and other stage races, but I am confident that, with these riders, we can perform very well in the one-day races as well,” Bruyneel said.
The team has scheduled a two-week training camp in Tucson, Ariz. in December. It is scheduled to make its racing debut at the 2010 Tour Down Under in Australia.
Armstrong’s Radioshack granted ProTour licence
Sunday, October 18, 2009 0 comments
PARIS, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Lance Armstrong’s RadioShack team has been granted a ProTour licence that guarantees the American outfit entry into next year’s Tour de France, the International Cycling Union (UCI) said on Friday.
“Following the examination of a request received, the Licence Commission has awarded a four-year UCI ProTour licence for the period 2010 to 2013 to Team RadioShack (USA),” the UCI said in a statement.
Seven times champion Armstrong, announced the creation of RadioShack during July’s Tour de France, which he finished in third place overall.
The 38-year-old returned to the sport in January, riding for the Astana team, after 3-1/2 years in retirement.
For next season, Armstrong, will be able to rely on experienced riders, notably American Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Kloeden of Germany.
Leipheimer, 35, has finished in the top 10 on the Tour four times—including third in 2007. Kloeden, 34, finished second overall in the Tour de France in 2004 and 2006.
Belgian manager Johan Bruyneel, the man behind Armstrong’s seven Tour titles, is set to leave Astana to join RadioShack when the American starts his 2010 season at the Tour Down Under in January.
RadioShack, however, will also bank on promising young riders.
“Sam Bewley (age 22) and Bjorn Selander (21) make the jump from the Trek-Livestrong U23 team, while Daryl Impey (24), Ivan Rovny (22) and Ben Hermans (23) all come from major European teams,” RadioShack said on their website on Friday (www.teamradioshack.us).
“Janez Brajkovic who comes with Armstrong from Astana, will be only 26 in December,” the team said.
“Following the examination of a request received, the Licence Commission has awarded a four-year UCI ProTour licence for the period 2010 to 2013 to Team RadioShack (USA),” the UCI said in a statement.
Seven times champion Armstrong, announced the creation of RadioShack during July’s Tour de France, which he finished in third place overall.
The 38-year-old returned to the sport in January, riding for the Astana team, after 3-1/2 years in retirement.
For next season, Armstrong, will be able to rely on experienced riders, notably American Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Kloeden of Germany.
Leipheimer, 35, has finished in the top 10 on the Tour four times—including third in 2007. Kloeden, 34, finished second overall in the Tour de France in 2004 and 2006.
Belgian manager Johan Bruyneel, the man behind Armstrong’s seven Tour titles, is set to leave Astana to join RadioShack when the American starts his 2010 season at the Tour Down Under in January.
RadioShack, however, will also bank on promising young riders.
“Sam Bewley (age 22) and Bjorn Selander (21) make the jump from the Trek-Livestrong U23 team, while Daryl Impey (24), Ivan Rovny (22) and Ben Hermans (23) all come from major European teams,” RadioShack said on their website on Friday (www.teamradioshack.us).
“Janez Brajkovic who comes with Armstrong from Astana, will be only 26 in December,” the team said.
Belated Amgen Tour of California Report
Tuesday, March 3, 2009 1 comments
Yes I know it's late but as they say better late than never...
A few weeks ago I went out to the Amgen Tour of California. This is the biggest stage race in the United States and it was great to see some of the cyclists that I have seen participate in the Grand Tours on television up close and personal.
Saturday, February 14 - Loaded up the family truckster and began the drive to California. The initial plan was to get to about an hour within Arizona and call it a night. But once we got to about an hour away from our hotel, I knew I still had a few more hours of driving in me, so we canceled our reservation and pushed on. Tucson, check, Phoenix, still feeling good, but should have checked the map, as after Phoenix there is nothing for about another 150 miles. Well there is nothing to do now but push-on unless we wanted to sleep in the car in the middle of the desert in Arizona. Um, no. So finally arrived in Blythe, CA at midnight Pacific time. Nothing like 17 hours of driving to get your trip started.
Sunday, February 15 - Woke up pretty early and luckily only had about 3 hours of driving to Rancho Cucamonga, where we were staying with family. Basically did nothing all day but lay around, and nap, and eat (including my first experience with In-N-Out burgers, and that was so amazing it will get its own post), and nap some more.
Monday, February 16 - This was supposed to be a pretty easy travel day of about 5 hours from Rancho Cucamonga to Ripon. The optimal word is "supposed" to be. Unbeknownst to me at the time there is really only one major way to get from southern California to Northern California inland and it is through the Grapevine. Well California was having terrible weather and the Grapevine (a twisty, mountainous section of Interstate 5) was closed because of snow and ice, so we had to detour and take a secondary route that was also experiencing weather and our 5 hour trip turned into about 8.5 hours. Luckily we made it through safely, and had a great dinner waiting for us at my Aunt's.
Tuesday, February 17 - This was our first day to pick up the tour, and the weather was still vile. Temperatures were in the upper 40s and it was raining cats and dogs. We arrived at the Stage 3 finish line in Modesto about 2.5 hours before the boys came in and after walking around at the finish line festival for awhile we decided to get out of the elements and watch some of the coverage on Versus. After about 30 minutes of this we headed back out and luckily the rain had tapered off. It was amazing that even with slick streets the riders still came barreling into town at such high speeds. After the finish it was another 2 hour drive to Fresno. After a few beers and some pizza it was time to turn in for the evening.
Wednesday, February 18 - The Stage 4 finish was in Clovis which is only about 15 minutes from Fresno so we were able to sleep in a bit. Also the weather had changed and the sun was shining and it was beautiful. Now this is what California was supposed to be like. Clovis really did it up right and they had a huge turn out. After walking around for an hour or so we posted up by one of the video boards about 300 meters from the finish line. It was here that I bumped into my friend Kevin, who I met last year at Pro Night at the Driveway Crit. He was driving the team bus for Toyota-United at the Driveway and was driving for Team Garmin-Slipstream for the AToC. He is such a great guy and it was great to see him again. So we posted up and watched the board until the riders came flying into town. Mark Cavendish of Team Columbia Highroad won the stage and clocked in at over 42 MPH in the finishing stretch.
Thursday, February 19 - Woke up pretty early in the morning and began the drive to Paso Robles which was the Stage 5 finishing city. After about 2 boring hours of driving we pulled into Paso and it was a really cool little town. Very nice people, beautiful weather once again, etc. Was able to post up at about 200 meters from the finish in front of a video board. Once again it is amazing to me the speeds these guys reach as they come into town sprinting to the finish. Cavendish won again. After Paso it was back in the car for about another 2 hour drive to Los Alamos (right outside of Solvang). In Los Alamos we found an awesome little dive bar right by our hotel. Had a few drinks, had the locals buying us drinks, buying locals drinks, it was just a great time. The hotel itself was a bit sketchy but whatever.
Friday, February 20 - Solvang. This was Stage 6 and it was a 15 mile time trial around the city. Solvang is an amazing little hamlet in the middle of California. It looks like someone took a piece Holland and uprooted it and place it in Cali. This was by far the most fun as since it was a time trial the start and finish lines were within a block of each other. Plus we were able to see the guys warming up on their trainers, walk out on the course to see the first turn, walk to the start house to see them leave, and then head over to finish to see them come in. Just amazing. Plus Solvang is such a cycling crazy city it seemed that everyone was a cyclist. After the time trials ended it was back on the road, and unfortunately time to sit in some traffic in L.A. Nothing like L.A. on a Friday, during rush hour. Oh well the day was amazing what is a little traffic.
Saturday, February 21 and Sunday, February 22 - On the road again back on the road to Texas.
All in all it was an amazing trip seeing some amazing cycling. Congrats to Levi for winning especially now that news come out he had a fracture at the time.
If you are interested in seeing my pics from the trip they are uploaded here.
Eventually I hope to get off my duff and make a movie of the footage I shot, but until then...
Enjoy the ride.
A few weeks ago I went out to the Amgen Tour of California. This is the biggest stage race in the United States and it was great to see some of the cyclists that I have seen participate in the Grand Tours on television up close and personal.
Saturday, February 14 - Loaded up the family truckster and began the drive to California. The initial plan was to get to about an hour within Arizona and call it a night. But once we got to about an hour away from our hotel, I knew I still had a few more hours of driving in me, so we canceled our reservation and pushed on. Tucson, check, Phoenix, still feeling good, but should have checked the map, as after Phoenix there is nothing for about another 150 miles. Well there is nothing to do now but push-on unless we wanted to sleep in the car in the middle of the desert in Arizona. Um, no. So finally arrived in Blythe, CA at midnight Pacific time. Nothing like 17 hours of driving to get your trip started.
Sunday, February 15 - Woke up pretty early and luckily only had about 3 hours of driving to Rancho Cucamonga, where we were staying with family. Basically did nothing all day but lay around, and nap, and eat (including my first experience with In-N-Out burgers, and that was so amazing it will get its own post), and nap some more.
Monday, February 16 - This was supposed to be a pretty easy travel day of about 5 hours from Rancho Cucamonga to Ripon. The optimal word is "supposed" to be. Unbeknownst to me at the time there is really only one major way to get from southern California to Northern California inland and it is through the Grapevine. Well California was having terrible weather and the Grapevine (a twisty, mountainous section of Interstate 5) was closed because of snow and ice, so we had to detour and take a secondary route that was also experiencing weather and our 5 hour trip turned into about 8.5 hours. Luckily we made it through safely, and had a great dinner waiting for us at my Aunt's.
Tuesday, February 17 - This was our first day to pick up the tour, and the weather was still vile. Temperatures were in the upper 40s and it was raining cats and dogs. We arrived at the Stage 3 finish line in Modesto about 2.5 hours before the boys came in and after walking around at the finish line festival for awhile we decided to get out of the elements and watch some of the coverage on Versus. After about 30 minutes of this we headed back out and luckily the rain had tapered off. It was amazing that even with slick streets the riders still came barreling into town at such high speeds. After the finish it was another 2 hour drive to Fresno. After a few beers and some pizza it was time to turn in for the evening.
Wednesday, February 18 - The Stage 4 finish was in Clovis which is only about 15 minutes from Fresno so we were able to sleep in a bit. Also the weather had changed and the sun was shining and it was beautiful. Now this is what California was supposed to be like. Clovis really did it up right and they had a huge turn out. After walking around for an hour or so we posted up by one of the video boards about 300 meters from the finish line. It was here that I bumped into my friend Kevin, who I met last year at Pro Night at the Driveway Crit. He was driving the team bus for Toyota-United at the Driveway and was driving for Team Garmin-Slipstream for the AToC. He is such a great guy and it was great to see him again. So we posted up and watched the board until the riders came flying into town. Mark Cavendish of Team Columbia Highroad won the stage and clocked in at over 42 MPH in the finishing stretch.
Thursday, February 19 - Woke up pretty early in the morning and began the drive to Paso Robles which was the Stage 5 finishing city. After about 2 boring hours of driving we pulled into Paso and it was a really cool little town. Very nice people, beautiful weather once again, etc. Was able to post up at about 200 meters from the finish in front of a video board. Once again it is amazing to me the speeds these guys reach as they come into town sprinting to the finish. Cavendish won again. After Paso it was back in the car for about another 2 hour drive to Los Alamos (right outside of Solvang). In Los Alamos we found an awesome little dive bar right by our hotel. Had a few drinks, had the locals buying us drinks, buying locals drinks, it was just a great time. The hotel itself was a bit sketchy but whatever.
Friday, February 20 - Solvang. This was Stage 6 and it was a 15 mile time trial around the city. Solvang is an amazing little hamlet in the middle of California. It looks like someone took a piece Holland and uprooted it and place it in Cali. This was by far the most fun as since it was a time trial the start and finish lines were within a block of each other. Plus we were able to see the guys warming up on their trainers, walk out on the course to see the first turn, walk to the start house to see them leave, and then head over to finish to see them come in. Just amazing. Plus Solvang is such a cycling crazy city it seemed that everyone was a cyclist. After the time trials ended it was back on the road, and unfortunately time to sit in some traffic in L.A. Nothing like L.A. on a Friday, during rush hour. Oh well the day was amazing what is a little traffic.
Saturday, February 21 and Sunday, February 22 - On the road again back on the road to Texas.
All in all it was an amazing trip seeing some amazing cycling. Congrats to Levi for winning especially now that news come out he had a fracture at the time.
If you are interested in seeing my pics from the trip they are uploaded here.
Eventually I hope to get off my duff and make a movie of the footage I shot, but until then...
Enjoy the ride.
Three in a row for Levi
Sunday, February 22, 2009 0 comments
Astana’s Levi Leipheimer collected his third consecutive victory at the Amgen Tour of California on Sunday as Saxo Bank’s Fränk Schleck won the eighth and final stage, a 97-mile leg from Rancho Bernardo to Escondido.
I guess we all battle the same thing...
Wednesday, February 11, 2009 0 comments
Minutes before the Astana cyclists began their 107-mile training ride in Santa Rosa, one of the world’s most famous athletes made what seemed an off-hand remark.
Standing by his bike in front of the Santa Rosa Hyatt, Lance Armstrong was asked his plans for this ride, part of a 10-day training session leading up to the eight-day Tour of California, which will blast into the city on Feb.15. The King Ridge route had been selected by teammate and Santa Rosa resident Levi Leipheimer for both its scenery and difficulty.
“Just follow Levi,” Armstrong said.
Was he nervous?
For more of the story click here.
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