SAN JOSE, Calif. — Team Slipstream/Chipotle’s stint leading the Tour of California lasted all of 60 miles Wednesday, about the time it took Tyler Farrar’s stomach virus to become a bigger hurdle than the mountains he was climbing.
Farrar, a 23-year-old Seattle resident, not only lost the overall lead, as expected, on the mountainous 102.7-mile Stage 3 from Modesto to San Jose, but he dropped out of the race. The stage race specialist wasn’t expected to retain the jersey — “He’ll be the guy in the yellow jersey passing out water bottles,” team director Jonathan Vaughters said before the race — but it wasn’t expected to get this bad.
Defending champion Levi Leipheimer took the overall lead after finishing second to Rabobank’s Robert Gesink of the Netherlands in a finishing sprint. Leipheimer has a 13-second lead on CSC’s Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland. Slipstream/Chipotle’s David Millar is fourth, 20 seconds back.
Vaughters said the bug might be food poisoning but might also be the flu. Steve Cozza had it first and Tom Danielson also might have it, he said.
Slipstream/Chipotle’s David Zabriskie led a charge up the 4,360-foot Mount Hamilton, one of five categorized climbs, but Gesink and Leipheimer broke from the pack over the last Category 1 climb before descending into San Jose. Zabriskie stands sixth, 21 seconds behind; teammate Christian Vande Velde is seventh at :23.
“To me, this was the real crucial stage,” Vaughters said of the race that ends Sunday in Pasadena. “It’s going to come down to the (Friday) time trial. Then, OK, if it’s down to seconds, the last two days will be tricky.”
John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com
