nice article about levi leipheimer

[Hell's Bells]

http://www.oregonlive.com/newslogs/oreg ... tml#068693

DIGNE-LES-BAINS, France - Levi Leipheimer is just where he wanted to be at
this point in the Tour de France - lurking in 7th place as the race heads for the Pyrenees and in the mix to become only the fourth U.S. rider ever to stand on a Tour podium.

He's easy to miss in a crowd of riders, a slight, bald man with intense pale blue eyes that match the jerseys of the team he leads this season, Germany's Gerolsteiner. No one in the peloton overlooks Leipheimer, however, who has twice cracked the Tour's top 10 and arrived at the start line leaner and meaning to do even better.

The last three years I've come in a little under my best, and I've always gotten better as the race went on,'' said Leipheimer, 31, who was born and raised in Butte, Montana. "But I think you can't really do that if you want to be on the podium. That's leaving it late. I'm definitely, no doubt, the strongest I've been going into the Tour.''

The Pyrenees got the best of Leipheimer last year, when he finished 9th overall. He ran out of fuel on the grueling climb up Plateau de Beille, along with most of the other top contenders, and the hiccup cost him a chance at a higher placement.

But Leipheimer is facing the steep gradients and chaotic crowd scenes of the weekend's two consecutive uphill finishes in Basque country with immense confidence.

He has a team devoted to putting him in the top three. He has sculpted his body down to a near-jockey-like 131 pounds and did three altitude training camps this season, two in St. Moritz, Switzerland and one on rocky Tenerife in the Canary Islands, where he rode with former teammate Lance Armstrong.

The effort has paid off already. Leipheimer was able to hold his own in the Alps on the Tour's first uphill finish to Courchevel and crossed the line alone in 6th place as other contenders lost considerable ground. "I should have been with the first group there, but I didn't really lose much time,'' Leipheimer said.

"I'm looking forward to the Pyrenees. I think the first two days are really going to make a difference in the (standings). And then the last time trial - that'll be huge time gaps. It's a very hard time trial. You have to save a lot of energy for that.''

This Tour marks Leipheimer's fourth as a team leader. He signed with the Dutch Rabobank squad after the 2001 season, when he became the first U.S. rider to reach the Tour of Spain podium, knocking then-U.S. Postal Service teammate Roberto Heras out of third place on the final day's time trial.

Leipheimer finished an impressive 8th in his first Tour in 2002, then broke his hip in a mass pile-up in the Stage 1 sprint finish the following year.

His 9th place in 2004 was encouraging but not a high enough rebound by his standards, and he elected to jump to Gerolsteiner partly because of the team's single-minded goal that matched his own. "He is very precise, he doesn't compromise with anything and I am a little the same,'' said team director Hans Holczer.

"He's a complete rider. He knows what to do and how to do it ... a real professional. If you try to convince him of different things, he will have a long discussion with you. He knows what he wants.''

Leipheimer's family owns a sporting goods store that sells bikes and ski equipment, and he grew up riding and sliding in the hills. He loves the technical side of cycling and his wife, former Canadian pro racer Odessa Gunn, said he is in "heaven" because their Santa Rosa, Calif. home is an easy drive from the headquarters of Specialized, Gerolsteiner's bike manufacturer, permitting frequent visits.

The couple spend the European racing season in Girona, Spain and dote on their two dogs and three cats. Six more cats stay behind in Santa Rosa. Gunn, who can't pass a stray animal without scooping it up and trying to find it a home, has started a non-profit organization to raise money for animal shelters and rescue operations.

Leipheimer and Gunn met in a Philadelphia coffeeshop before the U.S. championships in 1997. "I teased him about being from Montana, and then we took a two-hour training ride,'' she said. "That night, I told my girlfriend I had met the man I was going to marry, and I couldn't even pronounce his name.''

They were married in Whitefish, Montana five years ago and treated their wedding party to a helicopter ride over nearby Glacier National Park.

Recently, one of the biggest challenges of their marriage has been nutrition. Gunn is a vegan and Leipheimer quit eating sugar and processed foods several months ago, so "the list of foods that can come into the house is pretty limited,'' Gunn said.

But Leipheimer's monastic menu is yielding dividends, he said. "I just feel better in general not carrying that extra weight around all the time, I'm not as tired as I have been in the past and the climbs seem a little bit easier,”said the 5-7 Leipheimer, who slimmed down by about 7 pounds.

In his effort to make the incremental improvement that will put him on the Tour podium, Leipheimer enlisted the help of former Motorola team consultant Dr. Max Testa in Sacramento. "The training I was getting from Max was much more specific to me and to what kind of rider I am and the goals I want to achieve,'' Leipheimer said.

He finished second in April's Tour de Georgia, his first stage race in the U.S. in several years, and third in the Dauphine Libere tune-up race in June. "When I finished the Dauphine, I was like, man, I should have won that race,” he said. "I felt like I was the most consistent, strongest rider there. So now I think, hey, with good luck, why can't I stand on the podium in Paris?"

As the only non-German speaker on his team, Leipheimer is also approaching language methodically, listening to instructional tapes on his I-Pod while riding.

"You always learn, you're always progressing,'' he said.

He hopes to do well on his exams this weekend.

[BelgradeBobcat]

Levi is up to 5th with the toughest stage of race to come tomorrow. He's got his work cut out for him to get one of the top 3 spots, but he's definitely got a chance. Basso and Ulrich will probably be the other occupants of the podium with Armstrong.

But Levi is doing darn well though!