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**Levi Leipheimer**
Personal information
Full name	Levi Leipheimer
Date of birth	October 24, 1973 (age 36)
Country	United States
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	62 kg (136.7 lb; 9.8 st)
Team information
Current team	Astana
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	All-rounder
Professional team(s)1
1998–1999; 2000–2001; 2002–2004; 2005–2006; 2007; 2008–2009; 2010–	Saturn; US Postal; Rabobank; Gerolsteiner; Discovery Channel; Astana; Team RadioShack
Major wins
	Tour de France, 1 stage; Vuelta a España, 2 stages; Tour of California (2007, 2008 & 2009); Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (2006); Deutschland Tour (2005); Route du Sud (2002); Vuelta a Castilla y León (2009); Individual Champion, USA Cycling Professional Tour (2007); National Road Race Champion (2007); National Time Trial Champion (1999)
Medal record
Competitor for United States
Road bicycle racing
Olympic Games
	Infobox last updated on:
	December 29, 2007 1 Team names given are those prevailing; at time of rider beginning association with that team.

Levi Leipheimer (born October 24, 1973) is an American professional road bicycle racer who rides with UCI ProTeam Astana. He previously rode for Discovery Channel, Gerolsteiner, and Rabobank.^[1]

His major results are 1st overall in the 2009 Tour of California (winner of Stage 6 time trial), the 2008 Tour of California (winning the Stage 5 time trial), 2nd overall in the 2008 Vuelta a España (winning two stages), 1st overall in the 2007 Tour of California (winning the Prologue and Stage 5 time trials), 1st overall in the 2006 Dauphiné Libéré, 1st overall in the 2005 Deutschland Tour, 3rd overall in the 2001 Vuelta a España, and four top-ten finishes in the Tour de France general classification, including 3rd overall in 2007. He lives in Santa Rosa, California with his wife Odessa Gunn, though during the cycling season he primarily lives in Gerona, Spain. Leipheimer won the 2007 USA road championship, 1:11 seconds ahead of Discovery team mate and defending champion George Hincapie.

Leipheimer won the bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in the road time trial.

[edit] Career

[edit] Early years

A competitive skier from 12-19, Leipheimer began cycling in 1987 to train for downhill ski racing. He turned pro in 1997, and rode for Saturn in 1998 and 1999. He won the U.S. time trial championship in 1999, and then joined the US Postal cycling team.

[edit] 2001-2003

Leipheimer's breakthrough came in the 2001 Vuelta a España, his first Grand Tour. He was riding well in support of team leader Roberto Heras. Going into the final stage, an individual time trial in Madrid, Leipheimer was 5th overall but only trailed his team leader, who was third, by about a minute. During that time trial, Leipheimer vaulted over two riders, including Heras, to finish 3rd overall, making him the first American ever to achieve a podium finish in the Vuelta.

Following his 2001 Vuelta a España podium finish, the Dutch team Rabobank recruited Leipheimer as a team leader. In 2002, his first year with the new team, Leipheimer finished eighth overall in his first ever Tour de France. In 2003 edition, he crashed during the first week and was forced to abandon the race.

[edit] 2004

After Lance Armstrong declined, Leipheimer represented the United States in the 2004 Athens Olympics road race. He did not finish. He finished ninth in the Tour de France.

[edit] 2005

On August 23, 2005 Leipheimer won the Deutschland Tour by 31 seconds ahead of T-Mobile Team's Jan Ullrich and Gerolsteiner teammate Georg Totschnig. He solidified his lead by defeating Ullrich in stage four on the Rettenbachferner, the highest climb in European racing that year at 8,760 feet (2,670m).

[edit] 2006

In 2006, Leipheimer was favorite to win the Tour of California in February. He took the leader's golden jersey on the first day by winning the prologue to San Francisco's Coit Tower, and retained it until Stage 2 when George Hincapie claimed the lead by earning a 10-second bonus in the sprint in San José. Arriving in his hometown, Santa Rosa, in the lead at the end of Stage 1, thousands cheered him. Leipheimer remained competitive throughout the race (won by Floyd Landis), and won the competition for best climber.

After a hiatus from racing that Leipheimer spent training at home, he emerged in June at the Dauphiné Libéré in excellent condition. Third place in the individual time trial coupled with a dominant performance on the stage that ended at Mont Ventoux brought the overall lead. He donned the yellow jersey and never relinquished it to become the first American since Armstrong in 2003 to win.

Leipheimer faced high expectations in the 2006 Tour de France when the main contenders (including Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich) were suspended as a result of the Operación Puerto doping case. Because of this and Armstrong's retirement, none of the top five riders from 2005 competed in 2006. Having placed sixth in 2005, Leipheimer was considered a contender. However, a stage 7 time trial described as the worst of Leipheimer's career, put him five minutes behind the leader, in the middle of the pack, and making a top 10 finish a challenge. Further losses in the first mountain stage hurt further, and made even a top 20 finish questionable. But in the Stage 11, with five difficult climbs, Leipheimer produced a strong second place with the same time as stage winner Denis Menchov and new race leader Floyd Landis. This vaulted Leipheimer from 58th to 13th, albeit still 5:39 behind Landis. His final position was 12th, about 18 and half minutes behind winner Óscar Pereiro.

[edit] 2007

Leipheimer re-signed with Discovery Channel (The team name changed when US Postal ended sponsorship. A sponsorship agreement was signed with Discovery Channel in 2005). In his first season with Team Discovery Channel since re-signing, Leipheimer was the team leader in the 2007 Tour of California. He repeated his prologue win from the previous year on the same course, won the stage 5 time trial, and held the lead from start to finish. In the Paris-Nice he supported teammate Alberto Contador, who won. He placed third in the 2007 Tour de France, 31sec from the winner, his team mate Alberto Contador. Leipheimer won stage 19 of the 2007 Tour de France, the last individual time trial. At the end of the season, Discovery Channel would disband, leaving Leipheimer without a team once again.

[edit] 2008

Leipheimer joined Astana, managed by Johan Bruyneel, former manager of U.S. Postal/Discovery Channel. On February 13, 2008, Astana was banned from the 2008 Tour de France due to its involvement in the doping scandals of the 2007 Tour, although all of the people involved in those scandals had been replaced.^[2] The ban lead Leipheimer to create the website LetLeviRide.com, which was designed as a petition for admittance into the 2008 Tour (but is no longer in existence).

Despite the Tour controversy, Leipheimer won the 2008 Tour of California. At the last minute, Astana was admitted to the Giro, and Leipheimer finished 18th in his first Giro, while helping teammate Alberto Contador to the victory. He won both time trial stages of the 2008 Vuelta a España, donning the gold jersey as race leader after the first, and ended up second overall behind teammate Contador. He then won the bronze medal (riding for the U.S.) at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in the road time trial, nipping Contador (riding for Spain) by seconds.

[edit] 2009

Leipheimer began the 2009 season by winning the Tour of California for the third consecutive year. He broke away from the main field during the final climb of Stage 2 and earned the race leader's yellow jersey after the stage. Leipheimer went on to win Stage 6, the Solvang individual time trial. Astana teammate Lance Armstrong, in his second race after coming back from retirement, rode in support for Leipheimer. Leipheimer won the 2009 SRAM Tour of the Gila. He completed the race with Astana teammates Chris Horner and Lance Armstrong, who finished 2nd. Due to UCI regulations, the three rode the race as team Mellow Johnny's, the name of Armstrong's Austin bike shop, instead of as Astana. However, despite being a favorite in the Giro, Leipheimer only finished sixth.

Riding with Astana in the 2009 Tour de France, Leipheimer suffered a broken wrist in a crash near the end of Stage 12, which forced him to abandon the race before starting Stage 13.^[3] At the end of Stage 12, he was placed fourth in the General Classification.

[edit] 2010

Leipheimer will move to Team RadioShack for the 2010 season, staying with Armstrong and other teammates from Astana's 2009 team.^[4]

[edit] Personal life

Leipheimer was born in Butte, Montana. In a 1997 World Cup cycling event in Philadelphia, Leipheimer met Canadian professional cyclist Odessa Gunn.^[5] Leipheimer sent her a plane ticket to visit him in California, and, as Gunn put it, "I never left." She joined Team Timex-Cannondale but suffered career-ending back injuries. They were married in 2000 and currently live in Santa Rosa, California.^[5]