Levi Leipheimer

Levi Leipheimer (born October 24, 1973) is an American former professional road racing cyclist.

In 1995 Leipheimer won the Tour of Namur as an intern for the British F.S. Maestro – Frigas team.

Leipheimer, riding for Team Einstein, won the 1996 U.S. National Criterium Championships in Grandview Heights, Ohio, but tested positive for ephedrine, a banned substance.

He eventually forfeited his title, prize money and national champion's jersey as well as receiving a three-month suspension.

Leipheimer's family later claimed that the positive test was not indicative of doping, but rather, the result of his taking allergy medicine Claritin-D to relieve hay fever.

Leipheimer joined Astana, managed by Johan Bruyneel, former manager of U.S. Postal and Discovery Channel.

He was twice US national champion, winning the time trial title in 1999 and the road race in 2007, and is an Olympic medalist.

Leipheimer was born and raised in Butte, Montana and resides in Santa Rosa, California.

He is the patron of the widely attended King Ridge GranFondo, a mass participation ride in Sonoma County.

Leipheimer's major career accomplishments include winning the 2007, 2008 and 2009 editions of the Tour of California, the 2011 Tour de Suisse and the 2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge.

(This included his third-place finish in the 2007 Tour.)

His Grand Tour results include 2nd in the 2008 Vuelta a España, and 4th in the 2009 Giro d'Italia.

Leipheimer won the bronze medal in the time trial at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Astana was banned from the 2008 Tour de France because of doping scandals in the 2007 Tour, although all involved in those scandals had been replaced.

Leipheimer created a website to petition, unsuccessfully, for admittance to the 2008 Tour.

Leipheimer won the 2008 Tour of California.

He won the bronze medal at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics in the road time trial.

Leipheimer won both time trials of the 2008 Vuelta a España, leading the race after the fifth stage, and placed second overall.

Leipheimer began 2009 by winning the Tour of California for the third consecutive year.

He broke away during the final climb of stage 2 and led after the stage.

Leipheimer won stage 6, the Solvang individual time trial.

Astana teammate Lance Armstrong, in his second race after returning from retirement, rode for Leipheimer.

Leipheimer won the 2009 SRAM Tour of the Gila with Astana teammates Chris Horner and Armstrong, who finished second but, as UCI regulations meant that Astana were ineligible for the event, the three rode as Team Mellow Johnny's, named after Armstrong's bike shop.

In May, Leipheimer rode for Astana in the Giro d'Italia and finished 6th overall, the team's best placement.

Later, the 2nd-place finisher Danilo Di Luca tested positive for a banned substance and was stripped of his position, moving Leipheimer up to a 5th-place finish in the records.

Riding with Astana in the 2009 Tour de France, Leipheimer broke a wrist in a crash near the end of stage 12, when he was 4th overall, and abandoned the race.

Leipheimer moved, along with Armstrong and several others from Astana's 2009 team, to for 2010.

He won his second consecutive SRAM Tour of the Gila in April.

At the 2010 Tour de California Leipheimer finished in third place overall.

Leipheimer was favored to lead the team in California again for 2011, but became the team's chief domestique instead, riding in support of Chris Horner's eventual victory, after the latter posted a stronger time on mountainous stage four into San Jose.

Leipheimer also won the stage finishing at the Mount Baldy ski area, and was second in the individual time trial.

In his next race, the Tour of Switzerland, Leipheimer won, besting the race leader Damiano Cunego by 2 minutes in the final time trial stage, to win the tour by 4 seconds.

Leipheimer won the first edition of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, winning the first stage and the third stage time trial.

The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced in October 2012 that Leipheimer would be suspended for his involvement in doping while riding for Saturn, U.S. Postal Service, Rabobank, Gerolsteiner and Astana.

Leipheimer accepted a 6-month ban from September 1, 2012 to March 1, 2013 and was stripped of all race results from June 1, 1999 to July 30, 2006, and July 7 to 29, 2007.

Leipheimer joined Patrick Lefevere's team for what was supposed to be the 2012 and 2013 seasons.

In May 2013, Leipheimer confirmed his retirement from professional cycling following the termination of his contract with Omega Pharma-Quickstep.

Leipheimer was born and raised in Butte, Montana, where his parents ran a sporting goods store.

As a youth, his main sport was skiing, but he became interested in cycling after a skiing accident led to him directing his career hopes towards cycling.

At the last minute, Astana was admitted to the Giro d'Italia, and Leipheimer finished 18th, helping teammate Contador to victory.