Levi Leipheimer's time in the golden jersey was brief — one day — as he dropped to second place behind Sylvain Chavanel by 10 seconds after Stage 6 of the Vuelta a Espana on Thursday.
World Champion Paolo Bettini won the 93-mile stage from Ciudad Real to Toledo. The peloton gets a rest day on Friday.
Chavanel snagged the golden leader's jersey from Leipheimer by taking intermediate sprint bonus points along the race route. Leipheimer only had a 2-second advantage over the Frenchman after Wednesday's individual time trial.
The standings now put Leipheimer, teammate Alberto Contador, as well as Carlos Sastre and Alejandro Valverde in the top 5. That will be quite a battle as the next two weeks of the race pans out.
The top 10:
1 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis
2 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana, 10 seconds behind
3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne, 26
4 Alberto Contador (Spa) Astana, 57
5 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC – Saxo Bank, 1.37
6 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas, 1.42
7 Jurgen Van Goolen (Bel) Team CSC – Saxo Bank, 1.44
8 Juan Antonio Flecha (Spa) Rabobank, 2.01
9 Dominique Cornu (Bel) Silence – Lotto, 2.06
10 Daniel Moreno (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne, 2.20
More details at CyclingNews and VeloNews.
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