VideoNEW
Podcasts
Blogs
@ 5:00pm Sundays
Leipheimer snatches Tour de Suisse victory from Cunego
Levi Leipheimer stole overall victory on the final day of the Tour de Suisse with a strong performance in the ninth stage, a 32.1km time trial won by Fabian Cancellara.
Related Stories
Overnight race leader Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD) went into the final stage with a min 59sec advantage over RadioShack all-rounder Leipheimer.
However the American put in a powerful display on the hilly course in Switzerland's northern-most town to finish third on the stage only 13secs behind world champion Cancellara (Leopard Trek).
It meant Cunego, who finished 2:16 off Cancellara's pace, lost the yellow jersey by just four seconds.
Leipheimer, who kept himself hidden for most of the week, said his sporting director's advice in the finale may have been decisive.
"I didn't know how close it was at the end," said Leipheimer, who had started fourth from last in the 140-stong field.
"All I heard was my director shouting at me to sprint for the finish at the end. I think that might have made the difference.
"I had good days and bad days this week. It was a very hard Tour of Switzerland."
In third place overall was Steven Kruijswijk of Rabobank, who finished 1:02 behind Leipheimer in the overall standings.
It was Cancellara's second stage win in his home race, following his opening stage time trial win over 7km in Lugano last week.
The best placed Australian was Astana's Simon Clarke (Astana) who finished just over 52 minutes behind Leipheimer.
Stage 9: 32.1km ITT, Schaffhausen.
1 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Leopard Trek 0:41:01
2 Andreas Klöden (Ger) RadioShack 0:00:09
3 Levi Leipheimer (USA) RadioShack 0:00:13
4 Nelson Oliveira (Por) RadioShack 0:00:25
5 Tom Danielson (USA) Garmin-Cervelo 0:00:38
6 Gustav Larsson (Swe) Saxo Bank Sungard 0:00:41
7 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Leopard Trek 0:00:44
8 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM 0:00:48
9 Chris Froome (GBr) Sky 0:01:02
10 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin-Cervelo 0:01:04
General classification:
1 Levi Leipheimer (USA) RadioShack 31:45:02
2 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre - ISD 0:00:04
3 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Rabobank 0:01:02
4 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Leopard Trek 0:01:10
5 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank 0:02:05
6 Mathias Frank (Swi) BMC 0:02:24
7 Frank Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 0:02:35
8 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Rabobank 0:03:11
9 Tom Danielson (USA) Garmin-Cervelo 0:03:17
10 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Leopard Trek 0:04:12
