LEADVILLE, Colo. (AP) — Levi Leipheimer has won the Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race in record time.
Leipheimer didn’t get the chance to race against defending champion Lance Armstrong, his RadioShack teammate who pulled out with a sore hip. So he did the next best thing by breaking his record.
Despite this being his first major mountain bike race and going over the handle bars once, Leipheimer crossed the finish line in 6 hours, 16 minutes, 37 seconds, shaving more than 12 minutes off the previous mark.
The race starts at 10,500 feet and climbs 2,000 more feet. Armstrong won last year in a record time of 6:28:50, ending Dave Wiens’ six-year run as champ.
