Three-time Tour of California winner Levi Leipheimer is leading the 5-stage Vuelta a Castilla y León bike race in Spain after the third stage on Wednesday.
The US rider took the leader's jersey on Tuesday after winning the 17.5-mile individual time trial around Palencia.
Trailing Leipheimer by 16 seconds is his Astana teammate and team captain Alberto Contador.
Until Lance Armstrong abandoned with a broken collarbone after a crash on Monday, cycling fans were anxious to watch how Armstrong and Contador would sort out leadership of the team in their first race together.
Now that drama exists between Contador, winner of this race last year, and Leipheimer. Remember that Leipheimer and Contador had the exact same on-the-road time at last year's Vuelta a Espana, but Contador won the three-week race after the time bonuses were calculated.
Other US cyclists are well-represented in the overall standings, according to standings in the stage 3 report at CyclingNews.
David Zabriskie of Garmin-Slipstream sits in third overall, with teammates Tom Danielson and Christian Vande Velde in 9th and 10th respectively.
Spain's Alejandro Valverde won Wednesday's sprint to the finish after a 97-mile stage.
The race concludes on Friday.
Recent Comments