16/08/2009 - Armstrong wins Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race
Last year, we didn't have a clue that Armstrong was about to make a comeback to pro cycling. We all just thought the 7 time Tour de France Champion was bored - sick of the celebrity lifestyle - and a 100 mile mountain bike race was the ideal way of letting off steam. How wrong we were.
Last year Armstrong finished 2nd behind Dave Wiens. In fact, for the past 6 years, the 100 mile race has been dominated by David Wiens, who was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 2000. In 2008, Armstrong and Wiens did a good job of dominating the race and riding off together, until eventually Wiens beat Armstrong by just under 2 minutes and set a new course record of 6:45:45.
That was last year. That was pre-Tour Armstrong. This year, the Texan is clearly stronger, after completing both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France. Armstrong, riding for Mellow Johnny's (his bike shop) won the race in a course record smashing time of 6.28.50, beating Wiens (Topeak Ergon) by some 25 minutes. He even rode the last part of the race with a flat tyre.
A breakaway group was formed, which actually dropped Wiens. Armstrong made a break for glory, and spent over half the ride in solitude, working in his familiar, uncompromising style to win the race solo.
Cross country old timer Tinker Juarez (Mona Vie/Cannondale) was one of the pre-race favourites, but he dropped out with technical difficulties. Future RadioShack team mate of Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer missed the race through injury.
Armstrong rode a custom painted Trek Top Fuel, a picture of which can be seen on Armstrong's Twitter page at http://twitpic.com/cmtmn.
