ESCONDIDO, Calif. — The climb up a snowcapped mountain during the final stage certainly gave the Tour of California a European feel, as well as the spectators dressed in an array of costumes from a devil to an overweight guy wearing only a lime-green thong.
So did the presence of seven-time Tour de France Lance Armstrong, although his role this time was simply as a teammate.
With a boost from Armstrong and a tough mountain to climb, Levi Leipheimer won his third straight Tour of California on Sunday.
It was somewhat of an anticlimactic finish, considering that Leipheimer took over the lead in the nine-day race last Monday and never gave it up.
"It's the sweetest victory of the three," Leipheimer said. "It's hard to describe. I mean, to keep a streak going like that, it just becomes so difficult. I told Lance this week that I don't know how the hell he won seven times in the Tour de France. I've got a lot of respect for that because the pressure builds, the expectations are higher and you can't get second place because that's losing."
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Leipheimer was ninth in the final stage and finished with an overall time of 31 hours 28 minutes 21 seconds. His winning margin was 36 seconds over David Zabriskie of Garmin-Slipstream.
Armstrong, who began a comeback last month, spent this race in support of Leipheimer, his Astana teammate. Armstrong finished 31st in Sunday's stage and seventh overall, 1 minute 46 seconds off the pace.
"It was a hell of a good time," Armstrong said.
Armstrong said he enjoyed the role of supporting his teammate. "Nobody came in here with any other expectation than riding for Levi," he said.
Armstrong has said the priority of his comeback is to spread the message of the fight against cancer more than to win another Tour de France this summer or his first Giro d'Italia.
But two stage races into his comeback, he said he feels in pretty good shape.
"I think overall we're happy with where we are," Armstrong said. "If you compare Feb. 22 to any other year, we're well ahead of that."
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