Leipheimer wins time trial, young Slovenian takes overall lead

<p>Janez Brajkovic surged into the overall lead at the Tour de Georgia on Thursday with another strong ride in the fourth stage, a time trial up the side of Lookout Mountain.</p><p>The 23-year-old Slovenian, who rides for the Discovery Channel team once led by Lance Armstrong, placed 11th in the 27.8-mile stage with a time of 47 minutes, 28.9 seconds. American Levi Leipheimer won the trial at 44:51.78.</p><p>That was enough to claim the overall lead from Spain's David Gracia Canada, who slipped to fifth after managing just the 39th-best time in Thursday's stage.</p><p>Brajkovic has a cumulative time of 14 hours, 21 minutes, 52 seconds, which gives him a 12-second lead over Christian Vande Velde of the United States. Rubens Bertogliati of Switzerland is another 1:10 behind in third place.</p><p>Jeff Louder of the U.S. trails Brajkovic by 2:20, while Canada is 2:22 off the pace.</p><p>Only 12 riders have a realistic chance of winning the seven-stage event, which ends Sunday with a circuit race through the streets of downtown Atlanta. A stunning breakaway in the third stage left everyone else with too large a gap to make up.</p><p>Belgium's Gianni Meersman, another Discovery Channel rider who won Wednesday's leg, is 10:53 off the lead in 12th place. Next up is Leipheimer, who was still a daunting 26:26 behind even with his stage win.</p><p>Leipheimer easily won the time trial, which began near the site of a historic Civil War battle at Chickamauga and ended on Lookout Mountain, where another decisive struggle was waged between North and South.</p><p>American David Zabriskie was the only other rider within a minute of the winner's mark, finishing 41 seconds behind at 45:32.80.</p><p>Australia's Nathan O'Neill was 1:18 behind in third place, followed by 2005 Tour de Georgia winner Tom Danielson and Belgium's Dominique Cornu.</p><p>But the most important time was posted by Brajkovic, who was fastest among those with a chance to win the overall title.</p><p>The cyclists will be back on the road Friday for the fifth stage, which goes from the north Georgia town of Dalton to the top of Brasstown Bald, the highest point in Georgia.</p>