Barring disaster, Astana's Levi Leipheimer appears to have a lock on the overall 2008 Amgen Tour of California's winner's jersey.

While his defense of last year's title seemed less than certain Friday morning, his performance in that afternoon's 15-mile Solvang time trial solidified his hold on the overall lead in this country's premiere stage race. Leipheimer now enjoys comfortable buffers of 49 seconds and 1:08 over the Slipstream duo of David Millar and Christian Vande Velde in the race for the 2008 title.

With few opportunities to inflict damage on the Tour's final two stages, Leipheimer's Astana squad is well-equipped to defend the jersey, leaving only the sprint, KOM and team titles up for grabs.

Although a vigilant Astana team can be expected to control the GC contest, Saturday's 105-mile stage from Santa Barbara to Santa Clarita will not be an easy one. The four ranked climbs along the route - a Category 3 and three Cat. 4s - will require constant attention, but it's the day's rolling profile that may take its toll on the most exhausted in the peloton. A tenacious stomach virus that has made the rounds in the peloton and Thursday's long, cold and windy stage to San Luis Obispo have already combined to force a record number of riders to pull out of the Tour. Saturday's relentless terrain may trigger further attrition, especially if riders haven't recovered from that virus.

Stage 6 is a near duplicate of last year's penultimate ride, which saw Leipheimer - then holding a 21-second lead over CSC's Jens Voigt - forced to respond to a series of attacks and spend much of the day chasing a dangerous break, led by Voigt's teammate Stuart O'Grady. The stage offered up plenty of drama when Leipheimer's then-teammate George Hincapie (now High Road) crashed, broke his wrist and then rode through the pain to rejoin the field and power the pursuit of the day's escapees.

Whle CSC failed in its effort to take time away from the race leader, the team was still able to launch its best sprinter, Argentinian J.J. Haedo, into his second stage win of that year's Tour, repeating the feat he'd accomplished the year before. Haedo has already scored a win this year and he's in the hunt for a second victory, securing his grip on the distinction of having earned the most stage wins at the three-year-old Tour of California.

Haedo is also in the hunt for sprinter's points as he now trails Toyota United's Dominique Rollin in that contest, 36 to 26. With the opportunity to grab 25 points (5 at each of two intermediate sprints and 15 for a stage win), the race for that jersey is far from over. Indeed, with two stages remaining, that contest will undoubtedly remain undecided until Sunday's finish in Pasadena.

Points after stage 5
1. Dominique Rollin (Can), Toyota-United, 36 Pts.
2. Juan Jose Haedo (Arg), CSC, 26 Pts.
3. Gerald Ciolek* (G), Team High Road, 25 Pts.
4. Cavendish Mark* (GB), Team High Road, 19 Pts.
5. Tom Boonen (B), Quickstep, 15 Pts.
6. Robert Gesink* (Nl), Rabobank, 15 Pts.
7. George Hincapie (USA), Team High Road, 13 Pts.
8. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Astana, 12 Pts.
9. Mario Cipollini (I), Rock Racing, 12 Pts.
10. Scott Nydam (USA), BMC, 11 Pts.

The race for the climber's jersey
With four climbs on Saturday's route, Scott Nydam's hold on the KOM jersey is far from secure. Nydam originally grabbed the jersey on his solo ride from Sausalito to Santa Rosa on stage 1 and then regained it when his BMC teammate Jackson Stewart pulled out of stage 4, suffering from hyothermia. Rabobank's Robert Gesink may challenge Nydam for the title, adding another prize to what will likely be his second consecutive win in the contest for best young rider.

K.O.M. after stage 5
1. Scott Nydam (USA), BMC, 24 Pts.
2. Robert Gesink* (Nl), Rabobank, 16 Pts.
3. Jurgen Vandewalle (B), Quickstep, 15 Pts.
4. Alexandre Moos (Swi), BMC, 12 Pts.
5. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Astana, 12 Pts.
6. Ardila Cano Mauricio Alberto (Col), Rabobank, 12 Pts.
7. José Luis Rubiera (Sp), Astana, 12 Pts.
8. Iker Camano Ortuzar (Sp), Saunier Duval, 11 Pts.
9. Christopher Horner (USA), Astana, 11 Pts.
10. Jens Voigt (G), CSC, 9 Pts.

Best team
With four riders in the top 11 on GC, the new Slipstream-Chipotle team currently leads the overall team standings. That contest is harder to predict, since its day-to-day calculation depends on the times of each team's top-three finishers and a big break or crash can have a major impact on the final outcome.

Saturday's stage is slated to begin at 11:00 a.m. (Pacific Time), as the peloton rolls out of the coastal community of Santa Barbara and heads inland toward Carpinteria. The next 60 miles will send the peloton through tough rolling terrain, punctuated by ranked climbs at 16 miles (Cat. 4), 19 miles (Cat. 4), 36 miles (Cat. 3) and the final Cat. 4 climb up Balcom Canyon road. The day's second sprint mark may speed things up at mile 48, in Santa Paula, just before that last ranked climb.

Of course, we'll be here offering Live up-to-the-minute reports throughout Saturday's stage and again on Sunday, when the 2008 Amgen Tour of California wraps up in Pasadena.