Landis Has Lead After Trial Win

Floyd Landis rode to a dominating time trial win Wednesday and gave the Tour of California its third leader in three days.

Landis, the 30-year-old leader of Team Phonak, completed the 16.77-mile stage in 35 minutes 58.10 seconds at an average speed of 27.98 mph.

Landis, a Murrieta resident and four-time Tour de France finisher, now leads the race by 29 seconds over David Zabriskie of Salt Lake City, who was second in the stage.

“I didn’t know what other riders’ times were, so at the end I was a little bit surprised,” Landis said of his 26-second margin of victory. “But the guys at the front were the guys I expected to be at the front, so we’ll go forward from here.”

Bobby Julich of Reno placed third in the stage and is also third overall, trailing Landis by 34 seconds.

After moving into the race lead with a win in Tuesday’s stage, George Hincapie of Greenville, S.C., and the Discovery Channel team placed fourth in the stage and is now fourth overall, trailing Landis by 45 seconds.

Levi Leipheimer of Santa Rosa, who claimed the prologue Sunday and kept the lead through the first stage, placed ninth in Wednesday’s stage -- more than a minute behind. Leipheimer, whose sixth-place finish in the 2005 Tour de France was the highest of any of the Tour of California entrants, is now sixth overall -- trailing by 1:10.

Landis, a former teammate of seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, placed ninth last July in the Tour de France, his first as a leader of his Swiss team.

“My technique in time trials is to start a little slower,” said Landis, the fourth-to-last rider on course. “I’ve made the mistake in the past of starting too hard and losing a bit at the end. So in my way of thinking it’s better to save something for the end.”

The 120 riders remaining from a starting field of 127 will compete today in the 130-mile fourth stage.

The Tour of California ends Sunday with the longest stage of the estimated 600-mile, eight-day event, a circuit race in Redondo Beach

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Tour of California

Floyd Landis is the new leader after a dominating performance in Stage 3.

* Stage 4, today: Stage begins in Monterey and finishes 130 miles later in San Luis Obispo.

* Stage 5, Friday: The race winds along the Central Coast and ends in Santa Barbara.

* Stage 6, Saturday: Santa Barbara to Thousand Oaks.

* Stage 7, Sunday: Circuit race in Redondo Beach.