Leipheimer wins Tour of the Gila

ALTOS, N.M. — Levi Leipheimer won his second straight Tour of the Gila, holding off Tom Danielson on Sunday while teammate Lance Armstrong finished in 17th place.

Santa Rosa's Leipheimer held a 59-second lead heading into the final 105.7-mile stage that began in Silver City and ended in Pinos Altos. He finished the stage in 10th place with the same time as Danielson.

Leipheimer was thrilled to win again.

"I came here from sea level, and for me to perform as good as I did shows me that I'm in great shape," Leipheimer said. "Honestly, I felt fine the whole week, and I was never in trouble.

So I'm pretty happy. ... I dont think it could have gone any better for us."

Phillip Zajicek finished third overall after a strong eighth-place showing in Sunday's stage.

Armstrong dropped off the pace in the final five miles to complete the stage in 23rd place. His efforts, along with teammate Jason McCartney helped Leipheimer keep his lead.

"The most difficult part of today was controlling the race with just three riders," Armstrong's coach and director of Team Radioshack Johan Bruyneel said. "We also knew that there were a lot of domestic teams that were going to be going really fast, and we lost Jason pretty early because he had to do all the work in the beginning. After that it was up to Levi and Lance."

A breakaway group that saw Darren Lill, who won the stage, took off with about five miles to go.

"We saw them take off and Lance turned to me and told me that he had nothing left and to just go and get them," Leipheimer said.

"I was closing the gap, but they sprinted, and I think they were battling for second and third place."

Mara Abbott won the women's overall race by finishing second in the stage. Alison Powers was second followed by Catherine Cheatley, who won the final stage.