1 all - Wiens and Leadville
20.08.2009
Dave Wiens takes 2nd place at the Leadville 100 mountain bike race
On an incredible day of racing, Topeak/Ergon rider Dave
Wiens battled the elements and a fiercely determined Lance Armstrong to take the second step on the podium at this year's Leadville 100
In his bid for a 7th consecutive Leadville victory Dave Wiens finished in 6:57:01, almost 30 minutes off the finishing time of Armstrong, in what is arguably is the toughest one day mountain bike race in the world.
Early in the race the riders were treated to cold temperatures and freezing rain and a small pack of riders held together with Wiens and Armstrong until the notorious Columbine climb. By the top of the climb, and the 50 mile turn around point, Armstrong had flown and put almost 12 minutes on Wiens. From that decisive moment Armstrong slammed it into overdrive and raced alone until the finish in downtown Leadville, CO.
"He's Lance Armstrong and he just came from the Tour" Wiens said to the press. "Last year he was just off the couch and that made it a pretty fair fight" He added "my race was really hard the whole way... I was going as hard as I could".
Reflecting on his 2nd place finish Wiens said "this year I rode fantastic... and I'm happy"
Text - Peter Swap
