American Zabriskie surges into Tour of Missouri lead

Missouri: American David Zabriskie powered to a commanding victory in the individual time-trial at the Tour of Missouri on Friday, becoming the fourth overall race leader in the last four days. A stage winner in three of cycling`s grand tours, including the Tour de France, Zabriskie completed the flat 30.6 kilometre (18.6-mile) course around Sedalia in 36 minutes and 30 seconds. Swede Gustav Larsson, the Beijing Olympic time-trial silver medallist, finished second in 37:00 with American Tom Zirbel third in 37:14. Zabriskie, a five-time winner of the U.S. national time-trial, began the day 26 seconds behind overnight race leader Juan Jose Haedo of Argentina. After recording the best intermediate split, the American rider was never challenged and pedalled into a 30-second advantage over Larsson with two stages of the week-long race remaining. Zirbel, in third place overall, was 44 seconds adrift. Larsson could have ended the day closer to Zabriskie but lost time when he was twice forced to break suddenly to manouevre around race motorcycles that strayed into his path. Haedo, a sprinting specialist who had never previously led a stage race in his eight-year professional career, finished well back in the field to trail Zabriskie by nearly five minutes. The seven-stage Tour of Missouri continues on Saturday with a 177.4 kilometre (110.3-mile) trek from Chillicothe to St. Joseph. The USD 170,000 race concludes on Sunday with a circuit race in Kansas City. Bureau Report