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LEVI GOLDEN IN 2007
Latest News | Maps | Cities | Tour Merch. | Amgentourofcalifornia.com | Watch Live

After eight days leading the peloton of 144 elite, international cyclists that included Olympic medalists and world champions, Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team's Levi Leipheimer (USA) was crowned as champion of the 2007 Amgen Tour of California today with a total time of 24 hours, 57 minutes and 24 seconds. A resident of Santa Rosa, Calif., Leipheimer is the second consecutive Californian to win the title.

"It's one of my most satisfying victories because our team really had to fight hard. I don't know if any other team could have done it besides the Discovery Channel team," said Leipheimer.

The race continued to attract record crowds, besting its own record of 1.3 million fans last year, and shoring its place as the most attended cycling race in the U.S.

"In only its second year, the Amgen Tour of California continues to grow as the largest cycling event in America, and we've been proud to host the best field of cyclists ever to race on U.S. soil," said Shawn Hunter, president of AEG Sports, presenters of the race. "We love this sport, and we are committed to making it bigger and better every year to come. We want this race to be as important on U.S. soil as the Tour de France is in that country one day."

Patrick Dempsey (Grey's Anatomy) was one of the cycling fans on hand today, in support of Amgen's Breakaway from Cancer™ complementary initiative.

"The 2007 Amgen Tour of California has been a thrilling race that saw the world's best cyclists battle it out on some of the most punishing and spectacular terrain that California has to offer," said George Morrow, Amgen executive vice president, global commercial operations.

The seventh and final stage of the Amgen Tour of California was held in Long Beach, Calif., with enthusiastic crowds lining the ten laps of a 7.75-mile (12.5 km) circuit.

Leipheimer maintained a 21-second lead over Team CSC's Jens Voigt (GER) in the general classification to put Voigt second overall, with Discovery Channel Pro's Jason McCartney (USA) placing third overall. Team CSC riders took the next three spots, securing a win for Team CSC in the team classification.

"It's been an interesting race, and first of all I want to say the courses are very good. There is great potential in this race. I think it has a big future," said Bjarne Riis, Team CSC's Directeur Sportif.

Agoura Hills, Calif.-based Ivan Dominguez (CUB) of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team won the stage in an electrically charged sprint to the finish. He outpaced Rabobank's Graeme Brown (AUS) and T-Mobile's Gerald Ciolek (GER), who took second and third in the stage.

The attacks in today's stage began within the first minute of racing, and before halfway through the first lap, a breakaway group of seven riders had formed, including Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle's Danny Pate (USA), who was voted by journalists as the Adobe Most Aggressive Rider.

For the first four laps, the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team chased alone, but were eventually joined by Team BMC, then Rabobank and Team CSC. The gap slowly closed, absorbing the breakaway riders by the final lap, when sprinters were moved up to the front of the peloton by their teams for the final sprint to the line.

Team CSC's Juan Jose "J.J." Haedo (ARG) appeared to be boxed in approaching the line and finished tenth in the stage, but claimed the Herbalife Sprints classification jersey. Other jerseys awarded today included the Union Bank Best Young Rider Jersey to Rabobank's Robert Gesink (NED) and the California Travel and Tourism King of the Mountains Jersey to Credit Agricole's Christophe Laurent (FRA).

For full results, archived footage, team information and more, please visit the official race Web site at www.amgentourofcalifornia.com.

Race title sponsor Amgen created the Breakaway from CancerTM initiative in 2005 as a complementary component to its title sponsorship to the Amgen Tour of California. The initiative raises awareness and funds for vital non profit services and programs supporting people affected by cancer.

"Amgen is proud to sponsor this hugely successful race, which is helping advance the popularity of cycling in America," Morrow added. "As a company dedicated to tapping the power of pioneering science to fight serious illness, we are equally proud of our Breakaway from Cancer™ initiative."

At the conclusion of today's race, in celebration of the initiative, Breakaway from Cancer™ spokesperson and "Grey's Anatomy" television star Patrick Dempsey took the stage to recognize Amgen and the non profit organizations that are benefiting from the initiative this year: The National Coalition of Cancer Survivorship, the oldest survivor led advocacy organization in the nation, and The Wellness Community, an international organization dedicated to providing support, education and hope to people affected by cancer.

"I'm pleased and proud to be a part of the Breakaway from Cancer™ initiative as it raises awareness and funds for the extremely valuable resources and services offered by both The Wellness Community and The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship," said Dempsey.

"Through the Breakaway from Cancer™ initiative, Amgen, The Wellness Community and The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship have reached hundreds of thousands of people with hope and information about vital services for those affected by cancer," said Cynthia Schwalm, vice president and general manager, Amgen Oncology. "We plan to continue the Breakaway from CancerT initiatives throughout the year and will continue to raise awareness and support for organizations that provide support and resources for people affected by cancer."

For the latest information on the Breakaway from Cancer initiative and ways to support those living with the illness, visit www.breakawayfromcancer.com.

Leipheimer takes the overall

photo: Casey B. Gibson

There was no doubt about his beating Rabobank's stage 1 winner Graeme Brown, with T-Mobile's Gerald Ciolek in third, followed in order by Liquigas's Luca Paolini, Gerolsteiner's Robert Förster, Crédit Agricole's Thor Hushovd and Predictor-Lotto's Fred Rodriguez - a line-up worthy of a Tour de France sprint finish.

While Dominguez was the surprise package of a cool, overcast day in this sprawling oceanside city, there was never a doubt that Discovery Channel's Levi Leipheimer would keep the Amgen yellow jersey.

The big Cuban scores the only victory by a non-ProTour rider in this year's race

photo: Graham Watson

That was the good news for Discovery. The bad news was that after surgery Sunday morning on the broken radius bone of his left forearm, it was announced that George Hincapie would be out of racing for six to eight weeks - effectively making him a non-starter for the spring classics, including Paris-Roubaix.

Hincapie, however, played a major role in Leipheimer's California victory. When Leipheimer fell on the stage 1 finishing circuit in his hometown of Santa Rosa, Hincapie showed his commitment by stopping and helping him chase the group of only 40 riders that avoided the mass pileup. Because more than two-thirds of the field was held up, the chief commissaire decided that neither Leipheimer nor 80 others affected would lose the minute or so they conceded to the leaders.

The break built a lead of three minutes and change

photo: Graham Watson

Given a "second chance." Leipheimer raced brilliantly to the final win, which included taking the week's two time trials and being the catalyst of the winning breakaway over Sierra Road into San José on stage 3. Discovery was severely tested that day as well as on stage 6 on Saturday, where Hincapie had his crash.

"Levi led from start to finish," McCartney commented, "but there was a lot of sweat left on the road, and a little bit of blood."

Sprint finale
"I was just following wheels," said Dominguez shortly after winning the final stage. "I was following Brown's wheel the last three laps, and he took me all the way to the finish. I was feeling good all day. I was having bad legs all week, so today I feel much better."

The pace wasn't exactly killer

photo: Graham Watson

The seven leaders were absorbed one by one on the head-wind section on the back side of the circuit, with Menzies the last to be caught, two miles from the line. Then it was the turn of the sprinters. CSC (for overall points champion J.J. Haedo), Rabobank (for Brown), T-Mobile (for Ciolek) and Predictor-Lotto (for Fred Rodriguez) did most of the leading out back with the wind from the far turn.

But once the chase was on, the escapees were pulled back

photo: Graham Watson

"I had amazing legs," he said. "But I needed today to be a fast stage, and it turned out to be really slow, which doesn't suit my kind of sprint. The finish was the kind of conditions I like but there were just too many fresh guys. It was basically a lottery at the end.

"I was on Haedo's wheel behind [Paolo] Bettini with 300 meters to go and the lead-out just died and everyone came from behind. So we got swarmed. We tried to come out to the right but it was too late."

Asked how he compared the Long Beach finale with the Tour finish on the Champs-Élysées, Rodriguez said, "It was wide [like Paris] but the problem is the riders were so fresh. It was a fun circuit. Probably needed to add two hours to it to make it more of a race for me."

This year the Amgen Tour of California was a race for Levi Leipheimer. Maybe he'll be able to repeat this kind of form in France in five months time, just like the winner of the inaugural Tour of California did last year.

VeloNews senior writer Neal Rogers contributed to this report.

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Results
Top 10
1. Ivan Dominguez (Cub), Toyota United, 147.7km in 2:39:28
2. Graeme Brown (Aus), Rabobank, s.t.
3. Gerald Ciolek (G), T-Mobile, s.t.
4. Luca Paolini (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, s.t.
5. Robert Förster (G), Gerolsteiner, s.t.
6. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Crédit Agricole, s.t.
7. Fred Rodriguez (USA), Predictor-Lotto, s.t.
8. Henk Vogels (Aus), Toyota United, s.t.
9. Brice Jones (USA), Jelly Belly, s.t.
10. Juan José Haedo(Arg), CSC, s.t.

Complete results