Stage 1 started today in Salida, Colorado at the base of the Rockies.
The race headed west over Monarch Pass and pretty much stayed together all day. After descending into the town of Crested Butte, the peloton finally broke apart. The temperature today was in the 80s which is pretty hot for the mountains of Colorado in addition to the heat. Frank Schleck broke away but was caught and passed by Levi Leipheimer on the final 3k climb to the finish at Mt Crested Butte. Levi now has the yellow jersey. He just won the Tour of Utah last week. Sergio Henao of Colombia was second and Frank Schleck was third.
The whole town was out to see and race and take it all in. There was even a citizen parade before the pros took to the streets.
Result Stage 1: Salida – Mt. Crested Butte, 99.3 mi / 159.8 K
1 Levi Leipheimer (Team RadioShack) 4:29:22; 2 Sergio Luis Henao 00:04; 3 Fränk Schleck 00:07; 4 Cadel Evans; 5 Christian Vande Velde; 6 Tejay Van Garderen; 7 Janier Acevedo 00:10; 8 Robert Gesink; 9 Oscar Sevilla; 10 Tom Danielson
General Classification after Stage 1:
1 Levi Leipheimer (Team RadioShack) 4:37:47; 2 Christian Vande Velde 00:11; 3 Tejay Van Garderen 00:17; 4 Cadel Evans; 5 Robert Gesink 00:30; 6 Brent Bookwalter 00:34; 7 Rory Sutherland 00:35; 8 George Hincapie 00:37; 9 Tom Danielson; 10 Jeff Louder 00:41
