American cyclists swept the top four positions in Wednesday's 27-mile individual time trial at the Dauphiné Libéré bike race.
David Zabriskie repeated his prologue win on Sunday by finishing in 52 minutes and 48 seconds. He was followed by Floyd Landis nearly a minute later, then Levi Leipheimer and George Hincapie.
In spite of clocking the fastest times, the four could not take the overall lead in the bike race that end Sunday from Phillipe Gilbert of Belgium, who rides for Francaise des Jeux. Gilbert finished about 2-1/2 minutes behind Zabriskie, but had a comfortable 5-minute margin overall.
Zabriskie, riding for Team CSC, grabbed the yellow jersey the first day by winning the prologue on Sunday. It was reminiscent of the 2005 Tour de France when he became only the third American ever to wear the yellow jersey by winning the prologue of that classic.
Landis, a Pennsylvania native who rides for Phonak, has one three one-week bike races this spring largely on the strength of the time trialing abilities. The Tour de France contender has won the Tour of California, Tour de Georgia, and Paris-Nice.
Gerolsteiner's Leipheimer, who lives in Santa Rosa, California, has been flying under the radar for most of the season. This is a strong showing for Hincapie. The Discovery cyclist is in his first race since crashing because of a bicycle malfunction at Paris-Roubaix.
Expect a change in the overall lead after Thursday's stage, as the peloton finishes atop Mount Ventoux. A cyclist like Landis, who holds his own in the time trials and the mountains, might do very well.
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