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Viva Viviani! Liquigas scores a field sprint win in Steamboat Springs

  • By Steve Frothingham
  • Published Aug. 26, 2011
  • Updated Aug. 27, 2011 at 9:41 AM UTC
Elia Viviani wins the big sprint into Steamboat. Photo: Casey B. Gibson | www.cbgphoto.com

The biggest crowds to date in Colorado, and possibly the U.S., packed the Steamboat finish. Photo: Casey B. Gibson | www.cbgphoto.com

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. (VN) — Liquigas-Cannondale’s 22-year-old Italian speedster Elia Viviani won Friday’s stage 4 of the 2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge, outsprinting a large field in this cowboy ski town that went bike crazy for the occasion.

RadioShack’s Levi Leipheimer finished safely in the lead pack to retain the leader’s jersey to earned with his win of Thursday’s Vail time trial.

A five-man break was off the front for much of the day, the best-placed member of which was Gobernacion’s Janier Acevedo, who started the day 2:37 behind Leipheimer on the GC.

The RadioShack men kept the break’s lead under three minutes much of the day before the sprinter’s teams took over the chase in the final 30 kilometers, finally catching the last remnants of the break with less than five miles to go.
Quick results
Stage

  • 1. Elia VIVIANI, Liquigas-Cannondale, in 2:58:14
  • 2. Michael MORKOV, Saxo Bank Sungard, at s.t.
  • 3. Kenny Robert VAN HUMMEL, Skil-Shimano, at s.t.
  • 4. Robert FÖRSTER, Unitedhealthcare Presented By Maxxis, at s.t.
  • 5. Dennis VAN WINDEN, Rabobank Cycling Team, at s.t.

GC

  • 1. Levi Leipheimer, Team RadioShack, in 13:28:43
  • 2. Christian Vande Velde, Team Garmin-Cervelo, at 00:11
  • 3. Tejay Van Garderen, HTC-Highroad, at 00:17
  • 4. Tom DANIELSON, Team Garmin-Cervelo, at 00:21
  • 5. George Hincapie, BMC Racing Team, at 00:53

Results


FILED UNDER: News / Road / USA Pro Cycling Challenge TAGS: / /

Steve Frothingham

Steve Frothingham

VeloNews.com editor Steve Frothingham joined the gang in bike-crazy Boulder in early 2008. He is the former executive editor of the trade magazine Bicycle Retailer & Industry News. He also was a reporter and editor for The Associated Press, where he covered three presidential primaries in politics-crazy New Hampshire. His racing career began on a BMX track in 1980 and reached its zenith with several miserable road races as a category 2 in the early 90s. He subsequently retreated to cat. 3, where he has had a consistently mediocre (at best) record ever since, in road, mountain bike and cyclocross events. Follow him on Twitter at @steve_froth