Levi on a roll

<p>Thirteen years and six teams into his professional career, Levi Leipheimer has arrived at a cherished plateau. He’s in the middle of his most successful season and he’s currently the country’s most successful cyclist.</p><p>But when the Tour de France begins Saturday in Monaco, Leipheimer’s dilemma in his seventh appearance in the event is that he may be only the third- or fourth-best rider on his team.</p><p>Blessing or curse, Leipheimer rides for Astana, the most discussed, most controversial and potentially most dominant team in the race’s history.</p><p>It wasn’t until less than two weeks ago that Astana, the Kazakhstan-financed squad, secured its position in cycling’s biggest race. It hadn’t fully paid its riders and staff, including Leipheimer, for several months.</p><p>But with his job stable, at least for now, Leipheimer, third-place finisher in the 2007 Tour de France, will face the overriding question of the pending spectacle of cycling.</p><p>Astana’s roster includes Lance Armstrong, the seven-time winner of the Tour de France (1999-2005); Alberto Contador of Spain, the 2007 winner; and Andreas Kloden of Germany, twice a Tour de France runner-up. In addition to his third place (32 seconds behind Contador), Leipheimer has three other top-10 overall Tour de France finishes.</p><p>The quartet of potential winners beckons the question: Who’s going to lead the team?</p><p>“It is a superteam when you look at it on paper,” said Leipheimer, 35. “But it doesn’t always play out that way. One of us isn’t riding that well. Someone gets sick or injured. But certainly on paper, it’s a superteam.</p><p>“Alberto has been a good teammate supporting me earlier this season. Lance has been a good teammate and so has Kloden. I was a good teammate to Alberto last year in the Vuelta (a España). I think we’ve proven in the past that whoever the best man is, they’re going to get the full support of the team.”</p><p>Although some reports last week suggested that Contador would be the man, no one on Astana, including Leipheimer, has ever definitively said who’ll be its primary Tour de France rider.</p><p>As Leipheimer said: “Who’ll be the team leader? (Team director) Johan Bruyneel will be the leader."</p><p>Despite Astana’s vast strength, Leipheimer also quickly mentions the depth of this year’s Tour de France field. In addition to Armstrong, three additional former champions are entered, as well as a handful of other strong finishers from recent years.</p><p>“Let’s not forget there’s Cadel Evans, (Carlos) Sastre, (Denis) Menchov,” Leipheimer said. “These guys are who will decide. Yes, we (Astana) have three or four guys who can win the Tour. But they’re going to decide if we even have one. The competition is certainly strong enough that it can weed out who’s going to be the strongest on our team.”</p><p>Leipheimer was a Giro d’Italia (the first of cycling’s yearly three grand tours) favorite. But he finished sixth overall in the late May event, disappointed but pragmatic.</p><p>“In the Giro, I felt like ... well, I had some bad days there,” said Leipheimer in mid-June. “But it wasn’t really all that bad. It definitely could have been worse.</p><p>“But if I’m going to guess, I’m going to say it had a lot to do with the crashes. I hit pretty hard and actually my ribs are still hurting from that crash. They’re getting better, but the pain came about a week after the crash. So as far as the overall, I think I’ll just chalk it up to that.... It knocked me off my game a little bit. So, that’s my excuse (chuckling).”</p><p>Like many in the sport, Leipheimer’s career has been replete with injuries. He’s had nine victories this season, including his third straight title in the Tour of California. But he’s also spent time off the bike recuperating from crashes.</p><p>Since his last Tour de France ride, Leipheimer has also developed into a more complete rider. He’s now considered one of the world’s best time trialists.</p><p>“I’m a lot more experienced since then,” he said. “I’m stronger physically and stronger mentally. At that point, I had started to win time trials. Back in 2007, that was the beginning of a good chapter for me. I was starting to perform, for lack of a better word, better. ... I feel like I’m still maintaining that level and that I can get even better.</p><p>“I know people expected me to win the Giro, and I finished in sixth place. It’s not like I was bad. I guess what I’m saying is that with my wins and other races, I’m consistently up there. I’ve become a rider who’s very consistent.”</p><p>Leipheimer’s participation in the Giro with close friends and Astana teammates Lance Armstrong and Chris Horner also marked two new career avenues.</p><p>Despite Leipheimer’s long career, he’s never ridden back-to-back three-week grand tours, although he has completed two grand tours in one season. He finished 18th overall riding in a support role for Contador in the 2008 Giro d’Italia (May) and then finished second overall in the Vuelta (September).</p><p>With Armstrong’s media savvy and quest to tout his cancer awareness crusade globally, Leipheimer has also followed his famed teammate in becoming a more “transparent” athlete.</p><p>With Armstrong as host, Leipheimer filmed short videos of the Giro nearly every day from the team’s bus. The videos, which sometimes were serious and other times lighthearted, even goofy. They were distributed by Armstrong’s foundation, Livestrong, and posted on fan and media web sites.</p><p>Leipheimer, like many other pro cyclists, is also now a Twitter devotee, with more than 50,000 followers. He recently lamented the exclusion of Horner from his team’s Tour de France squad and he tweets about restaurants, training rides with Armstrong and his charitable involvement.</p><p>“I think we were just having fun,” said Leipheimer of his video debut. “It’s just a way to show the fans what it’s like. It’s a way for us to tell the story the way we would like it to be told, I guess.</p><p>“It’s the same with Twitter. If we want to say, ‘Hey, that stage was a little bit dangerous,’ we can say it the way we want to say it. It’s a lot of fun and it’s good for our sport.”</p>