BRANSON, MO. — The French have a nickname for the cycling discipline known as the time trial: the race of truth.

Racing only with himself and against the clock, a rider learns that he has no place to hide and that numbers don't lie.

The numbers put up by Levi Leipheimer of the Discovery team in the time trial Thursday read as follows:

— He covered the 18-mile course in 39 minutes, 37 seconds, 16 seconds faster than second-place Australian Nathan O'Neill of Health Net-Maxxis.

— The time-trial victory was his fifth of the year.

The bigger truth is that Leipheimer has become one of the premier time trialists in the pro ranks, a goal he set last year when he signed for his second tour of duty with Discovery. A member of the team in 2000 and '01 when it was sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service, Leipheimer spent three years with Rabobank and two with Gerolsteiner, elite pro teams, but was "supermotivated" to be back with his first pro squad. He spent last October in the wind tunnel, working on his time trial position.

"I trained extremely hard, harder than I ever trained in the offseason," he said.

The work paid dividends in the Amgen Tour of California, where his victory in the individual prologue and the time trial launched him to the overall win. He also won the time trial stage in the Tour de Georgia. But his most famous time trial victory was in the 19th stage of the Tour de France, which assured him of a podium finish in Paris. He also made a 25-mile solo attack, similar to a time trial, in winning the USA Cycling Professional road racing championship Sept. 2.

"Last weekend was a surprise I went for it, then hung on," he said. "I was hurting at the end, but it was nice to cross the line."

The exclamation point on his season was the victory Thursday.

The seasonlong success that Leipheimer has achieved this year is old school, harkening to the days when riders such as Eddie Merckx won stage races throughout the season. Leipheimer cautioned that appearances can be deceiving.

"There definitely were peaks and valleys," he said. "But if you place them well, the valleys stay hidden."

Leipheimer hit most of the valleys in training, though he said his form was off in the Dauphine Libere, the prelude to the Tour de France, and Paris-Nice, won by teammate Alberto Contador.

"Luckily, my role in Paris-Nice was different, in support," he said. "To watch Alberto win was part of a great year."

He also will finish the Tour of Missouri in a support role to George Hincapie, who finished sixth Thursday, 2:07 behind Leipheimer. Hincapie extended his overall lead to 1:40 over American Will Frischkorn of Team Slipstream-Chipotle and 2:22 over David Canada of Prodir-Saunier Duval. The trio was part of a 12-man breakaway Wednesday in Stage 2, which Hincapie won. Though Leipheimer entered the Tour of Missouri as one of the co-favorites, he missed the breakaway and is 12:23 behind Hincapie in the overall standings. Thus, he'll spend the next three days fetching water bottles and setting the tempo for Hincapie with no regrets.

"For me it's all about the team," Leipheimer said. "We wanted to come here and go out on top."

The Tour of Missouri is the last U.S. race for Discovery, which is disbanding at the end of the season. Though Hincapie will compete in the world championships at the end of the month and other Discovery riders will compete through October, the Tour of Missouri is Leipheimer's last race. He said he didn't know with whom he would ride next year.

"It's sad that it's ending," he said. "But the team has made a lot of history, and I'm proud to be a part of it."

knelson@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8233