Michael Rogers retains overall 2010 Amgen Tour of California before Sunday's final stage.

Enthusiastic fans lined up along the streets of downtown Los Angeles to welcome world-class cyclists from 16 professional teams for Stage 7 of the Amgen Tour of California, which consisted of two laps around a 10.5-mile course for the individual time trial.

After completing the longest day of the race yesterday, the riders were faced with a course that was filled with several of the city's most recognizable landmarks, including Walt Disney Concert Hall, the University of Southern California, the LA Coliseum and STAPLES Center. In a race against the clock, Tony Martin (GBR) of Team HTC-Columbia emerged victorious with a time of 41 minutes and 41 seconds. Finishing in second place, three-time individual time trial world champion Michael Rogers (AUS) also of Team HTC-Columbia, will retain the Amgen Leader Jersey heading into the final stage of the race.

"I think taking the Amgen Leader Jersey tomorrow would be the biggest win of my career, in terms of a stage race," Michael Rogers commented. "This would be a highlight for me. There's a huge emphasis on this race and I think it would be a dream come true, not only for me, but for the whole team in general."

Moving into second place was five-time and current U.S. National Time Trial Champion David Zabriskie (USA) of Team Garmin-Transitions. And the most anticipated rider of the day, three-time defending champion Levi Leipheimer (USA) of Team RadioShack came in fourth today with a time of 42 minutes and 14 seconds, which put him in third place overall going into tomorrow's final stage.

With the start and finish lines located only one block apart, the individual time trial provided fans with an ideal opportunity to watch riders both start and finish the race. In a challenging test for the riders on a decisive day cycling, the second half of the circuit included two short, but steep climbs.

This ‘race of truth,' came down to an all out fight for the win between the last five riders, the top-5 in the GC after yesterday's trying mountain stage, which included Rory Sutherland (AUS) of UnitedHealthcare Presented by Maxxis, Leipheimer, Peter Sagan (SVK) of Liquigas-Doimo, Zabriskie and Rogers, but ultimately no one could beat Martin's time.

"I'd never been to Los Angeles before, so to race here in such a big city was really spectacular," Tony Martin commented and added "It was very good to race here and the road was perfect."

"To beat Dave and Levi [Leipheimer] is a great ride for me and I'm really happy to be able to take the yellow jersey into the final stage," Rogers stated and finally added "The race is definitely not over. The other teams will throw everything they've got at us tomorrow but I'm confident that our team can handle that. All the guys were really strong yesterday in the mountain stage so with Bernie (Eisel), (Bert) Grabschy, young Tejay (Van Garderen) and of course Tony we have a good chance Sunday."

Stage 7 brought only two changes to the jersey leaders. Martin was awarded Amgen's Breakaway from Cancer Most Courageous Rider Jersey. Thomas Rabou (NED) of Team Type 1 re-claimed the California Travel & Tourism King of the Mountains (KOM) Jersey. Rogers will retain the Amgen Race Leader Jersey, and Sagan the Herbalife Sprint Jersey and the Rabobank Best Young Rider Jersey.

The 2010 Tour of California concludes on Sunday.

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