MOUNT CRESTED BUTTE — American Levi Leipheimer won Stage 1 of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge today after catching two breakaway riders with the peloton just miles from the uphill finish to Mount Crested Butte.

Then, less than a half-mile from the finish, Leipheimer broke away from Tour de France winner Cadel Evans and the rest of the pack to win the 99.3-mile stage in 4 hours, 29.22 seconds. He was 4 seconds ahead of Sergio Luis Henao and seven seconds ahead of Evans and Frank Schleck.

“When I was 13 years old, there were two races that inspired me to be a pro cyclist: the Tour de France and the Coors Classic,” Leipheimer said. “So it’s great to be here 25 years later and racing in Colorado going over the same roads that Bob Roll, Greg LeMond and Bernard Hinault raced.”

Earlier in the race, former Colorado resident Bradley White broke away with South African Jay Thomson from Bissell Pro Cycling just over two hours into the stage.

White, who rides for Team United Healthcare and lived in Littleton from 2005-10, is a former All-American collegiate swimmer who discovered cycling after competing in triathlons once he moved to Colorado to be a sixth grade school teacher.

“We dropped the two guys (from the original break) and weren’t sure whether to wait,” said White, who won the most-aggressive rider jersey and said he was pleased with his performance. “They didn’t come back. It was just us two, and we were on the pedals the whole day. The headwind was definitely tough. I didn’t see the peloton but I imagine it was across the road the whole way.”

White left Colorado for Holland, Mich., after he and his wife had their first child so they could be closer to her family. On Friday, White and his wife had their second child just days after he finished the Tour of Utah.

“After the Tour of Utah, I didn’t have great recovery,” White said. “Two or three days at home, then two or three days in the hospital and then back to Colorado.”

Riders pushed off at 11:45 a.m. from Salida, where large crowds had gathered in the small former railroad town to send the riders off. After two ceremonious laps through the town streets, riders took off west toward Monarch and the 11,312-foot Monarch Pass, where even more spectators lined the roadside.

Schleck, who finished third, said he was surprised by his finish, especially because he was only in Colorado for a few days before the start of the race.

“It’s the first time I’ve experienced (racing at) altitude,” Schleck said. “The only time I’ve gone this high or higher was probably the flight.

“It affects everybody, that’s the good part. Some of the riders — like Levi — are more adapted. You feel it in your lungs and you just don’t have the same power.”