Leipheimer takes Leadville

In 2008, a not-yet-unretired Lance Armstrong turned the Leadville 100 into the only mountain bike race most Americans have ever heard of by taking second place. The following year, he won it, setting the course record and inspiring a documentary film called "Race Across the Sky," which millions of Americans didn't see.

After this year's Tour de France, however, the thought of riding a 100-mile mountain bike race that would not be a glorified post-Tour victory lap probably made Armstrong want to puke, and so he skipped it. Of course, the laws of pro cycling physics dictate that, in Armstrong's absence, American mainstream media attention shifts to Levi Leipheimer instead. So, in accordance with these laws, Leipheimer not only took the start at Leadville but also won it, breaking Armstrong's 2009 record and crashing pro mountain biker Todd Wells in the process in true roadie fashion.

"That was just ridiculous. I don't know if I've suffered that much before," said Leipheimer at the finish, after which he went to see "Eat, Pray, Love" and said the exact same thing upon leaving the theater. He's now competing in the Tour of Utah, where he has made it clear that he is not riding for overall victory.

Meanwhile, the Garmin-Transitions team has been enjoying some late season ProTour success. Daniel Martin won the Tour of Poland, Tyler Farrar won the Vattenfall Cyclassics for the second year in a row, and Svein Tuft won the prologue at the Eneco Tour. Farrar will also ride the Vuelta a Espana, as will Mark Cavendish and Alessandro Petacchi, which means that this year's race should be positively sprint-tastic. Moreover, Vincenzo Nibali, Denis Menchov, and both Andy and Frank Schleck are among the riders who will figure into the battle for the overall--except you won't even know Menchov is in the race until he winds up on the podium at the end, because that's what he does.