With a bold attack at the foot of the day’s final climb, two-time defending champion Levi Leipheimer took control at the Tour of California on Monday.
On the 7-mile climb Lepheimer accelerated away from the peloton, then picked off, one by on, the day’s 10-man breakaway and moved to the head of the race.
After passing Garmin-Slipstream’s Tom Peterson and Saxo Bank’s Jason McCartney, Peterson latched onto Leipheimer’s back wheel and rode it on the descent and into the finishing stretch, where he passed Leipheimer for the stage win.
An elite chase group including David Zabriskie of Garmin and Michael Rogers of Columbia and Lance Armstrong finished 20 seconds behind Leipheimer to stay in contention for the overall.
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