Zabriskie wins third stage, leads Tour of California

California: American David Zabriskie won the third stage by a few centimetres from Michael Rogers of Australia to become the third race leader in the first three days of the Tour of California.

Zabriskie, US time trial title holder and only American to win stages in all of cycling`s three big Tours, emerged from a three-rider sprint to win the 182.3-km stage from San Francisco to Santa Cruz in four hours, 26 minutes and 10 seconds. Three-times defending race winner Levi Leipheimer of the United States finished third in the same time as the top two. Zabriskie, who has twice finished second overall in the previous four Tours of California, moved into a four-second race lead over Rogers via his 10-second stage win bonus. Leipheimer, third in the Tour de France in 2007, is now third overall, trailing Zabriskie by six seconds.The top-three stage finishers all began the third stage of the eight-day race in a group of 20 riders, trailing previous race leader Brett Lancaster of Australia by 10 seconds. Lance Armstrong, the seven-times Tour de France winner, finished in a chase group of about a dozen riders 17 seconds behind. Armstrong is now 12th overall trailing by 27 seconds in a group of 14 riders.Zabriskie, holder of the Tour of Missouri title, Rogers, a three-times world time trial winner, and Leipheimer formed the winning lead trio about 35 kilometres from the finish at the base of the final of the day`s four climbs. Bureau Report