RadioShack, Levi Leipheimer, Chris Horner Outpace All in Tour of California Stage Seven

Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner dropped everyone to finish 1—2 in Stage Seven of the Tour of California.
RadioShack, Levi Leipheimer, Chris Horner Outpace All in Tour of California Stage Seven
Chris Horner (L) and teammate Levi Leipheimer (R) celebrate at the finish line as Leipheimer wins Stage Seven and Horner defends the overall race leader's jersey of the 2011 Amgen Tour of California. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
5/22/2011
Updated:
8/26/2011

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/twoToueCals114486848web_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/twoToueCals114486848web_medium.jpg" alt="Chris Horner (L) and teammate Levi Leipheimer (R) celebrate at the finish line as Leipheimer wins Stage Seven and Horner defends the overall race leader's jersey of the 2011 Amgen Tour of California. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)" title="Chris Horner (L) and teammate Levi Leipheimer (R) celebrate at the finish line as Leipheimer wins Stage Seven and Horner defends the overall race leader's jersey of the 2011 Amgen Tour of California. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-125985"/></a>
Chris Horner (L) and teammate Levi Leipheimer (R) celebrate at the finish line as Leipheimer wins Stage Seven and Horner defends the overall race leader's jersey of the 2011 Amgen Tour of California. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
RadioShack’s Levi Leipheimer led teammate and race leader Chris Horner to the top of Mount Baldy almost a kilometer ahead of the rest of the field, winning Stage Seven of the 20121 Amgen Tour of California.

The two riders’ teammates pushed the pace so hard up the several climbs of Stage Seven that none of the other General Classification contenders had the strength to launch an attack.

Garmin-Cervelo’s’s Ryder Hesjadal and Christian Vande Velde joined an early break which disintegrated on the final climb up Mount Baldy; their teammate Tom Danielson cracked the final climb but made a strong comeback to finish fourth, a minute out; Leopard-Trek’s Andy Schleck couldn’t keep the pace in the final few kilometers; United Healthcare’s Rory Sutherland also cracked on the climb and finished well back.

The pace set by the RadioShack team broke every rider except two: Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner, who rode away easily after their last teammate, Matthew Busche, dropped aside. Neither Leipheimer nor Horner every looked to be in the slightest trouble.

Leipheimer, who led through the final kilometers with Horner right on his wheel, had high praise for the members of his team.

“Haimar [Zubeldia] Markel [Irizar,], JMac [Jason McCartney,] they they’ve been solid all week, but today, Ben King and Matthew Busche were extraordinary—it was great to see’” Leipheimer told Versus reporter Bob Roll after the race..

“We had a great team meeting on the bus right beforehand.It was very calm; we said, ‘Listen we’ve got to relax just stick together we’re not going to jump we’re just going to accelerate slowly, pay attention; just Zen.’

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/LANatFor114487085web_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/LANatFor114487085web_medium.jpg" alt="The peloton passes through the Angeles National Forest during stage seven of the 2011 Amgen Tour of California. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)" title="The peloton passes through the Angeles National Forest during stage seven of the 2011 Amgen Tour of California. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-125986"/></a>
The peloton passes through the Angeles National Forest during stage seven of the 2011 Amgen Tour of California. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
“Everybody was perfect—there wasn’t a lot of discussion, things were clicking, we didn’t make any mistakes.”

Leipheimer went on to praise the local cycling fans for supporting the stage so strongly.

“I want to thank all the fans for coming out today to Mount Baldy. The course was spectacular, Glendora Mountain Road then Mount Baldy, with the switchbacks and all the fans—it felt like the Tour de France.

“I hope this becomes a staple in the Amgen Tour of California. I think it will become an iconic stage and be a great battle every year.”

This pair were by far the strongest in the field this day, and they will be rewarded with the top two steps of the podium Sunday.

Next:  GC Contenders Form a Break

GC Contenders Form a Break


<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/TourCalChase114486887web_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/TourCalChase114486887web_medium.jpg" alt="The chase group of Matt Busche, Chris Horner, Levi Leipheimer, Andy Schleck, Tejay Van Garderen, Laurens Ten Dam, Steve Morabito, and Christian Vande Velde (obscured) charge up Mount Baldy. (Jeff Gross/Getty Images)" title="The chase group of Matt Busche, Chris Horner, Levi Leipheimer, Andy Schleck, Tejay Van Garderen, Laurens Ten Dam, Steve Morabito, and Christian Vande Velde (obscured) charge up Mount Baldy. (Jeff Gross/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-125987"/></a>
The chase group of Matt Busche, Chris Horner, Levi Leipheimer, Andy Schleck, Tejay Van Garderen, Laurens Ten Dam, Steve Morabito, and Christian Vande Velde (obscured) charge up Mount Baldy. (Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
A large and very powerful breakaway formed 12 km from the start, after two earlier attempts were ridden down.

The successful break included some of the strongest riders from the top teams: Andrew Talansky and Ryder Hesjdal (Team Garmin-Cervelo,) Christopher Froome and Ben Swift (Sky Procycling,) George Hincapie (BMC Racing Team,) Francesco Bellotti (Liquigas-Cannondale,) Grischa Niermann (Rabobank Cycling Team,) Alexander Efimkin (Team Type 1-Sanofi Aventis,) Jonathan Patrick McCarty (Team Spidertech Powered By C10) and Rob Britton (Bissell Cycling.)

This group opened a lead of two minutes, but that was all they could manage. RadioShack drove the peloton so hard it split into pieces.

The lead chase group of Matt Busche, Chris Horner, Levi Leipheimer, Andy Schleck, Tejay Van Garderen, Steve Morabito, Christian Vande Velde and Laurens Ten Dam passed stragglers from the break as the road got ever steeper up the final climb, with Radio Shack’s Matt Busche making an heroic effort to keep the pace to high for attacks.

One by one riders form the chase group feel back until it was the three RadioShack riders, Andy Schleck, and Rabobank‘s Laurent Ten Dam. Schleck slipped back and fought his way back a few times; Ten Dam also cracked and recovered. But no one could match the pace of Busche, and when finally the young American rider could go no further, Leipheimer and Horner took off as though they were just starting the climb.

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/leviChris114486432Web_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/leviChris114486432Web_medium-298x450.jpg" alt="Levi Leipheimer (R) and Chris Horner attack on the slopes of Mt. Baldy during Stage Seven of the 2011 Amgen Tour of California. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)" title="Levi Leipheimer (R) and Chris Horner attack on the slopes of Mt. Baldy during Stage Seven of the 2011 Amgen Tour of California. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-125988"/></a>
Levi Leipheimer (R) and Chris Horner attack on the slopes of Mt. Baldy during Stage Seven of the 2011 Amgen Tour of California. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
Race leader Chris Horner was content to let Leipheimer take the stage win. The leading duo didn’t fight among themselves for an edge. There was no need to fight; both riders, and their team, won big.

Horner also had lavish praise for the efforts of his teammates.

“[The team] did an unbelievable job, there is no doubt about it,”Horenr told Bob Roll. “We had Ben King, Markel, JMac, they were unbelievable. They did the bulk of the work.

“We had an unbelievable rid by Dymmy [Dmitriy Muravyev,] he did the last ten miles all on his own before we started the sharp climb to the finish. Then the young neo-pro Matty Busche showed his stuff and strutted it all the way. He blew the field apart. He brought us down to just Levi and myself. Then Levi kicked it and I was just hanging onto the train.”

Chris Horner kept his leader’s gold jersey with a comfortable margin; he is virtually assured of the overall win. Even so, he wasn’t complacent about Sunday’s Stage Eight.

“It’s another tough stage,” he said. “There’s always a flat tire, a bad accident, something like that. That’s why I’m glad we’re sitting 1–2 right now and we have room. If something should happen to me, if something should happen to Levi, we’ve got some room there to play with. We’ve got a lot of time between. We have a very good, strong team
 
“It will be the sprinters’ teams’ jobs to do almost 100% of the work tomorrow. There’s not a whole lot of threat of people on GC, so if they want to win the stage, it’s going to have to be someone else doing the work.”

Horner was also enthusiastic about the fans’ response to the race. “They did a fantastic job,” he said, urging them to continue to show support, so that Maybe there could be a Tour of the USA to match the Tour de France, Vuelta España, and Giro d’Italia..

“You want big stage racing in the States, we need big spectatorship. Come out in full force when you’ve got a stage like this. You’ve got to come out and support. If you want big stage races. That’s how you get a Grand Tour.”

Next: Results

2011 Amgen Tour of California Stage Seven Results

1

Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team RadioShack

3:33:03

2

Christopher Horner (USA) Team RadioShack

 

3

Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team

0:00:43

4

Thomas Danielson (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo

0:01:01

5

Steve Morabito (Swi) BMC Racing Team

0:01:21

6

Alexander Efimkin (Rus) Team Type 1 - Sanofi Aventis

 

7

Tejay Van Garderen (USA) HTC-Highroad

0:01:29

8

Damiano Caruso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale

0:01:39

9

Andy Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek

 

10

Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo

 

 

General Classification after Stage Seven

1

Christopher Horner (USA) Team RadioShack

20:50:02

2

Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team RadioShack

0:00:38

3

Thomas Danielson (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo

0:02:45

4

Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo

0:03:18

5

Tejay Van Garderen (USA) HTC-Highroad

0:03:23

6

Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team

0:03:26

7

Rory Sutherland (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling

0:04:12

8

Andy Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek

0:04:33

9

Steve Morabito (Swi) BMC Racing Team

0:04:50

10

Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Team Garmin-Cervelo

0:06:16