Leipheimer relying on Armstrong's help at Giro

RIOMAGGIORE, Italy (AP) " Levi Leipheimer moved within striking distance of the Giro d'Italia lead Thursday. Now he hopes Lance Armstrong can help him get the pink jersey.

Leipheimer finished second to Denis Menchov in a grueling individual time trial and moved up to third overall, 40 seconds behind the Russian. Danilo Di Luca, who entered the 12th stage with the overall lead, dropped to second, 34 seconds behind Menchov.

"We have to attack," said Johan Bruyneel, the team manager of Leipheimer's and Armstrong's Astana squad.

Leipheimer finished third in the 2007 Tour de France and was second to teammate Alberto Contador in last year's Spanish Vuelta. He's won all three races he's entered this year " the Tour of California, the Vuelta of Castilla and Leon and the minor Tour of Gila " but still doesn't have the reputation of a winner.

"I've never seen Leipheimer attack and he's going to have to now if he wants to win this Giro," Di Luca said.

That's where Armstrong comes in. The seven-time Tour de France winner is still regaining his form after 3 1/2 yearss of retirement and breaking his collarbone in March. Out of contention in 12th place, Armstrong can afford to sacrifice himself for Leipheimer.

"Lance Armstrong is very important for Levi, without a doubt. Everyone knows that," Menchov said.

Menchov was timed in 1 hour, 34 minutes, 29 seconds over the nearly 38-mile route along the coastal area known as Cinque Terre. He dedicated his victory to injured teammate Pedro Horillo Munoz, who tumbled 60 yards off the side of the road in a high-speed descent Saturday. He is recovering from severe injuries at a hospital in Bergamo.

"He was very unlucky and I hope he bounces back soon," Menchov said. "We had a nasty scare and now Pedro will realize that we're winning and that will make him happy."

Di Luca finished sixth, 1 minute, 54 seconds behind Menchov.

Menchov also won the race's toughest uphill finish to Alpi di Siusi in stage 5 and has two Spanish Vuelta titles. But without Horillo and no other established climbers, Menchov's Rabobank team may not be strong enough to defend the lead.

"We'll see now how his team can deal with that," Bruyneel said. "Obviously it would be better to be 40 ahead than 40 behind but there are still a lot of hard stages to come. We'll just have to see and maybe take advantage of a bad moment of Menchov or one of the other favorites to attack and gain some time."

Leipheimer was cut and bruised in a fall Wednesday when someone dropped a water bottle in front of him.

"It's never the best thing to crash, especially the day before a time trial," he said. "So maybe I can blame that a little bit, but I don't like to make excuses and to be honest I felt good and I don't feel like it held me back."

Armstrong was 13th, 2:26 behind.

"We had this idea to not go full gas in the beginning and try to accelerate on the last climb and that was not possible," Astana team manager Johan Bruyneel said, referring to Armstrong. "When he got to the bottom of the last climb he could maintain the same rhythm but he could not accelerate."

Armstrong finished one spot behind defending Tour champion Carlos Sastre, and one spot ahead of former world time trial champion Michael Rogers.

"Of course, you always want to be as good as possible but overall I think it was a good time trial," Bruyneel said. "More than 1 1/2 hours of time trialing after such a long time " I think he's doing well."

Armstrong appeared bothered by a back problem and took his hands off the handlebars several times to stretch.

"I've never seen him do that in the past," Bruyneel said. "Obviously it was a hard effort."

Armstrong has stopped speaking to reporters, apparently angry over the fallout of a rider protest he helped orchestrate in Milan on Sunday.

This was one of most demanding time trials in recent grand tours, with riders needing about 30 minutes longer to complete than most other races against the clock.

Hugging the spectacular Ligurian coast, the route tilted uphill immediately with a nearly 10-mile climb. That was followed by a nerve-racking descent full of hairpin curves. Cliffs heading down to the sea lurked just over the guardrails.

A second climb of 5 1/2 miles began shortly after the stage's midpoint, with another harrowing descent. The nearly 86-degree heat was also a factor.

"The only word I can think of is epic," Leipheimer said. "I know that word is used a lot, but it truly deserves to be described that way today."

Stage 13 on Friday is a mostly flat, 109-mile course from Lido di Camaiore to Florence. The race ends May 31 in Rome.