US’s Levi Leipheimer celebrates on the podium yesterday
AFP/Zurich
American Levi Leipheimer snatched overall victory from Damiano Cunego in the Tour of Switzerland yesterday to leave the Italian in second place by only four seconds. Switzerland’s Fabian Cancellara closed his home race the way he opened it, winning the ninth stage’s 32.1 km time trial around Schaffhausen to claim his second stage win after his opening time trial victory in Lugano. However the biggest shock of the day was Lampre all-rounder Cunego losing the yellow jersey by the second smallest margin in the race’s history. Former Giro d’Italia champion Cunego went into the final stage with a 1min 59sec lead over RadioShack all-rounder Leipheimer and knowing full well he was under pressure. And his worst fears were confirmed when Leipheimer put in a powerful display around Switzerland’s northern-most town to finish third only four seconds behind teammate Andreas Kloden and 13secs behind world champion Cancellara. In total, RadioShack had three riders in the stage’s top ten with Portuguese Nelson Oliveria finishing fourth at 25secs behind Cancellara. Cunego, who took the race lead after finishing second in stage three to Grindelwald, said in recent days that Leipheimer was his biggest concern. And despite giving it his all on the hilly course, which at times was buffeted by short gusts of wind, the Italian’s bid was always hanging in the balance.