Leipheimer keeps TOC lead heading into final stage

PASADENA — Barring a last-day rule change requiring the guy in the yellow jersey to ride in high heels or on a tricycle, it appears Levi Leipheimer will continue his February tradition of winning the Tour of California.

On the penultimate day of the 750-mile, eight-stage race, Leipheimer, holding a 36-second lead and protected by a fortress known as Team Astana, brushed off a series of attacks and stayed upright Saturday to maintain his commanding advantage after an 88.9-mile trek from Santa Clarita to the Pasadena.

Italy’s Rinaldo Nocentini won the stage by outsprinting New Zealand’s Hayden Roulston to complete the last of five 4.7-mile circuits around the Rose Bowl. Nocenti and Roulston were part of a 10-rider group that broke away from the peloton and was never reeled in. No rider in the breakaway group posed a threat to Leipheimer’s overall lead.

As a result, Leipheimer and his support crew headlined by Lance Armstrong, Chris Horner and Janez Brajkovic — the cycling equivalent of having Secret Service protection — were content to let the lead group compete for the stage win.

With today’s mountainous 96.8-mile trek from Rancho Bernardo to Escondido standing between Leipheimer and his third straight TOC title, he has a 36-second lead on David Zabriskie and a 45-second edge on Michael Rogers.

“One day to go,” Leipheimer said. “But it wasn’t an easy stage.”

If the day wasn’t exactly filled with drama for the casual fan, it continued to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for a faceless group of riders who are sharing California’s backroads with the top cyclists in the world.

Among the TOC’s 17 teams are eight Pro Tour teams such as Astana, one Professional Continental team and eight U.S. Continental teams, which are on the lowest rung of professional cycling.

The mix of teams means cyclists such as Armstrong suffer next to others such as Curtis Gunn of Fly V Australia, a Continental team.

Like Armstrong, Gunn is a 37-year-old with a remarkable comeback story.

Unlike Armstrong, fans weren’t lined 10-deep outside his team’s bus after Stage 7. In fact, the only people directly outside Fly V Australia’s bus late Saturday afternoon were Gunn’s parents, Robert and Louise Gunn of Atlanta.

Fly V Australia has just two riders remaining from its original eight-man team. A flu virus wiped out five riders and a broken wrist sidelined another, leaving Ben Day and Gunn as the team’s only able bodies.

Day is in 83rd place in the 97-man field and Gunn is 96th, 50 minutes and 50 seconds behind Leipheimer.

Whatever.

Seven years ago, Gunn was a former world-class amateur cyclist who hadn’t ridden competitively for six years. At age 30, he had dabbled in dot-com ventures and Web site design and had worked for 18 months at Breckenridge Brewery in Tucson, Ariz.

That last job helped explain why the 5-foot-11 Gunn weighed 232 pounds, 70pounds over his cycling weight.

“I really just got back on the bike just to be healthy again,” said Gunn, who has lost the 70 pounds. “I didn’t have any interest in racing. But then I had some racing, had some success and thought, ‘Wow, I can still do this.’”

Gunn could do it well enough to earn his pro contract at 32. And five years later, he’s riding with the world’s best cyclists in one of the most prestigious races. Prior to the TOC, Gunn counted the Tour of Southland in New Zealand and the Milk Ras in Ireland as some of the biggest races of his career.

On Thursday, Gunn made a breakaway during the 134.3-mile stage that started in Visalia and finished in Paso Robles. With TV cameras trained on him, he rode by himself for 120 miles into the wind.

It was a long way from the brewery.

“It’s a huge honor for me to be able to be here to race this race,” Gunn said. “At this point I’ve just been suffering every day to try to see the finish line. I’ve used a lot of energy every day. That 120-mile breakaway — that was a long day. Today I could tell. I’ve got one day left and tomorrow is going to be a rough one.”

Of course, Gunn will suffer in anonymity today as Levi and Lance steal the spotlight. Gunn, and others just like him, will cross the finish line in Escondido completely unnoticed.

And totally victorious.

You can reach Staff Writer Eric Branch at 521-5268 or eric.branch@pressdemocrat.com