Crash ruling helps Leipheimer

Levi Leipheimer hoped to enter his hometown of Santa Rosa in grand fashion riding at the front of the peloton Monday and winning the second stage of the Amgen Tour of California to cement his overall lead.

Instead, bruised and bloodied, Leipheimer pedaled across the finish line more than a minute after the leaders. While he didn’t get the stage win, Leipheimer did hold onto the leader’s jersey after surviving a massive crash that took down more than half of the 144 riders as they made the second of three circuits through Santa Rosa from the finish line.

Because of the large number of riders involved in the pileup, race judges decided that all the riders who were in the crash would receive the same time as the leaders. The decision allowed Leipheimer of Discovery Channel to retain the lead he had earned Sunday in the race’s opening prologue. There was an earlier crash that knocked another American favorite, Dave Zabriskie, out of the race. It was feared Zabriskie had broken his wrist. While X-rays were negative, Zabriskie, who rides for CSC and who led the Tour de France two years ago, was unable to continue after his fall.

Australian Graeme Brown of the Dutch team Rabobank won the crash-marred drive that began in Sausalito and traveled 97 miles to Santa Rosa on a perfect California day. Brown outsprinted T-Mobile’s Greg Henderson of New Zealand to the finish line. Leipheimer’s Discovery Channel teammate Allan Davis, another Australian, was third.

Sunday’s surprising runner-up rookie pro rider Jason Donald of Slipstream-Chipotle was also caught in the crash and is still second overall.

The fans had lined three- and four-deep around the route of the two-mile finishing circuit. “We have to remember that circuits in races of this caliber are not very common for this exact reason,” Leipheimer said in a news conference. “But it’s very necessary for the crowds. They deserve a show and to see some great bike racing. Doing these three laps gave them that.”

diane.pucin@latimes.com