Team headed by three-time winner Levi Leipheimer
Levi Leipheimer of the RadioShack team has won the Amgen Tour of California three times in his career (2007-2009) and wants to add a fourth title to his palmarès. The American squad is sending a strong line-up in which Chris Horner has a leader’s role along-side Leipheimer. Both riders have specifically prepared for the event from May 15 to 22.
The whole team has had the Californian event on its radar for a while. “This is one of our biggest events of the year,” says Team Manager Johan Bruyneel. “We are an American-registered team. Our biggest sponsors are American. So this race is important to our sponsors and therefore important to the team.” Bruyneel is happy on how the Tour of California has grown since its inception in 2006. “This eight-day race has become one of the biggest stage races in the world. The organization, the palmarès and the participation of all big teams make this race huge.”
Once being a February race offering some quality training in sunny California, the move to the May slot has made the race bigger and more challenging. Climbs that were covered in snow in the winter can now be added to the route; Donner Pass, Mount Hamilton or Mount Baldy road are adding tough vertical miles.
This is to the liking of RadioShack. “Three-time winner Levi Leipheimer will of course be our leader,” Bruyneel explains. “This race suits him very well and this year even more than the previous ones.” Bruyneel hopes that the mix of uphill and racing will put Leipheimer back on the leader board. “The race route became harder; we now have two mountaintop finishes, and there is the time trial in Solvang. Levi has never lost there.”
RadioShack has a good option in case Leipheimer’s chances are compromised. “Chris Horner will be our perfect alternative. Thanks to his performances earlier this year in Catalunya and the Basque Country he deserves the co-leadership. Chris never disappoints us. Age doesn’t seem to have an impact on him. Quite the contrary.”
Bruyneel is aware that the competition will be hard, highlighted by the fact that Michael Rogers (HTC) took the win from Leipheimer twelve months ago. “Every year the teams are sending better riders to this race. Andy Schleck will be there with the ambition to win, and then there are the other American teams.”
American professional cycling is riding on a high since the successes of Greg LeMond and Lance Armstrong. “Garmin-Cervélo and HTC-Highroad are as keen as we are to take the victory and don’t forget BMC,” Bruyneel says. He hopes to continue the winning streak at home. “We’ve won the Tour of California 3 out of 5 times. Hopefully we’ll make it 4 out of 6. We will fight for it,” the Belgian says.
Leipheimer has had a quiet build-up to his season’s main goals, with a couple of podium places in Spanish races and an eighth place overall in Paris-Nice. Horner has only done two stage races so far this season, the Volta a Catalunya and the Vuelta al País Vasco. He did extremely well in both, finishing fourth in Catalunya and second in the Basque Country.
The RadioShack line-up for the Amgen Tour of California (May 15-22th):
Matthew Busche, Chris Horner, Markel Irizar, Ben King, Levi Leipheimer, Jason McCartney, Dmitriy Muravyev and Haimar Zubeldia