Holding up three fingers as he crossed the finish line, Levi Leipheimer took a dramatic victory in the time-trial stage of the Amgen Tour of California through Solvang and the Santa Ynez Valley for the third year in a row.

Racing in the last position in the individual time trial, Leipheimer posted a winning time of 30 minutes, 40.524 seconds as a huge crowd tensed to see whether he would beat the time of David Zabriskie, who had already finished.

He beat Zabriskie?s time by more than 8 seconds.

Leipheimer entered the day in the lead of the eight-stage Tour of California and with the Stage 6 time-trial win, he is poised to win his third straight title in the overall race when it ends Sunday in Escondido.