David Zabriskie achieved a podium finish at the UCI World Championships in the individual time trial on Thursday, finishing third behind Bert Grabsch of Germany and Svein Tuft of Canada.
Levi Leipheimer finished in 4th place, about 14 seconds behind Zabriskie. Those two were the only US cyclists in the competition.
The current world champion in the individual time trial, Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland, did not compete. He won the gold at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing last month.
The 27-mile bike route around Varese featured two climbs. It started and ended in Mapei stadium.
Podium
The winner, Grabsch, rode the course in 52:01, finishing 42 seconds ahead of Tuft, his closest competitor. The German rides for Team Columbia and was Germany's national time trial champion last year.
Tuft rides for Symmetrics and might be familiar to those who followed the Olympics. The Canadian was one of the earlier starters and set a fast pace at the Olympic time trial. He ultimately finished in 7th place in Beijing. (Symmetrics is backing out of its cycling sponsorships at the end of this season, resulting in the Rusty Chain owners not being able to operate the Canadian continental team next year.)
Zabriskie made his comeback from a back injury at those Olympics, where he finished in 12th place at the individual time trial. A cyclist for Garmin-Chipotle, Zabriskie was injured in a crash early in the Giro d'Italia and spent most of the summer rehabilitating.
Zabriskie competed at the US national time trial champion after winning that event at Greenville, South Carolina, over the Labor Day weekend.
Olympic bronze
Leipheimer came into the Worlds having won both individual time trials at the Vuelta a Espana this month. The cyclist for Team Astana also won the bronze in the time trial in Beijing in August.
The Worlds run through the weekend with the under-23 road race on Friday, women's road race on Saturday and the men's road race on Sunday. Free, live video-streaming is provided by Universal Sports. (See schedule.)
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