American says Planche des Belles Filles finish will be first key moment
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Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma-Quickstep)(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Two men with Tour de France podium finishes in their palmares: Frank Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan) and Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma-QuickStep)(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Levi Leipheimer (Omega-Pharma Quickstep)(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
"It's definitely going to become clear who's strong and who the favourites are. It's simple math really. If someone gets dropped big-time then they are simply not going to be in it," said the Omega Pharma-Quick Step team leader.
Leipheimer said he feels that his form is good, but pointed out that it is difficult to make predictions heading into the mountains for the first time. "I feel good but we haven't really been put to the test," he said.
He acknowledged that fortune has gone his way so far in the Tour. "Knock on wood, I've been very lucky in this Tour. I've been close to five or six crashes but I've missed them, so I'm thankful for that. It was important that we had the whole team on the front at the right moment so we're still in it.
"I stayed up front ahead of the crash and someone said there was only 40 or 50 guys left. I don't know what happened. One moment it got windy, it got fast. It's the Tour de France. If you're at the front you're OK. But everyone's so strong that the speed can snap the peloton and there's no coming back from it," he said.
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Peter Cossins has written about professional cycling since 1993 and is a contributing editor to Procycling. He is the author of The Monuments: The Grit and the Glory of Cycling's Greatest One-Day Races (Bloomsbury, March 2014) and has translated Christophe Bassons' autobiography, A Clean Break (Bloomsbury, July 2014).
