SILVER CITY, N.M. — Lance Armstrong didn’t disappoint the fans who traveled to this sleepy mining town from as far as the Netherlands to see him take on a speedy — and potentially dangerous — race around 1-mile downtown course in the Tour of the Gila.
Returning from a broken collarbone, Armstrong had said before the fourth stage that this was the part of the tour that made him the most nervous.
With two laps to go, Armstrong and teammates Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner had a near miss as the pack sped into the second turn of the downtown course. Armstrong was near the front of the field, Leipheimer — the tour’s leader — was following a few bikes behind and then came Horner.
“Levi got tagged and lost the back tire and we had to do a bike change,” Horner said. “He came off hard but stayed on the feet of the bike.”
Armstrong and Horner worked to protect Leipheimer for most of the 40 laps. The Astana riders are entered independently in the five-day tour, wearing the kits of Armstrong’s Mellow Johnny’s bike shop.
The three were near the front of the field, trying to stay out of trouble for most of the stage. When the pileup happened, Leipheimer was in about 15th place, not far behind Armstrong.
“He was in a good spot, normally a safe spot, but in a criterium sometimes there are no safe spots,” Horner said of Leipheimer.
Astana general manager Johan Bruyneel said before the race that the three riders needed to concentrate on avoiding crashes.
“It’s a special race, the criterium, and our guys are not really used to that type of effort,” he said.
The focus of the Mellow Johnny’s team, however, is the last stage of the tour — a 105.7 mile road race through the mountains north of Silver City. The riders will be tested by about 9,000 feet of climbing, including a category one climb near the end of the course.
While New Mexico’s mountains don’t compare to those Armstrong and his teammates will face next week in the Giro d’Italia, Bruyneel said Sunday will be the “hardest day” of the Tour of the Gila.
“We’ll see how it goes, but I think things look good for the start of the Giro,” he said.
As for a team leader for the European race, Bruyneel said Leipheimer is the strongest of the Astana riders at the moment. He said Alberto Contador, who won the 2007 Tour de France and last year’s Giro and Spanish Vuelta, is not ready for this year’s Giro.
As for Armstrong, each stage of the Tour of the Gila is bringing him up to speed as he recovers from a broken collarbone. Bruyneel said he expects Armstrong to be able to use the Giro to prepare for the team’s ultimate goal — the Tour de France.
The crowd erupted, the ringing of cow bells pierced through the cheers and fans waved cardboard cut-outs of Armstrong’s face each time the riders passed.
Before and after the race, hundreds of people gathered around the Mellow Johnny’s team bus, waiting for Armstrong, Leipheimer and Horner to come out. Then the chants started, “We want Lance.”
George Gutierrez and his daughter, Janice, both from the nearby town of Hurley, waited outside the bus to get an autograph. Gutierrez, who was born and raised in the area, said he had never seen so many people at the Tour of the Gila as this year.
Lee Watson, 43, brought his two sons from El Paso, Texas, to see Armstrong as well as Kristin Armstrong, gold medalist in the time trial at the Beijing Olympics. Watson was stationed with the U.S. Army in Europe during the 2003 Tour de France but missed seeing Lance Armstrong before he headed up the fabled Alpe d’Huez.
“There are not many chances where you’re able to see him and I don’t know if he’s going to do this one year and retire again,” Watson said. “It’s good for American cycling having him here.”
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