The penultimate stage of the race is a 45km long time trial. Theres plenty of German time trialists here hoping to beat each other, looking to stake their claim for a place in the World Championships team. The stage win however should be between 2: Michael Rogers and David Zabriskie. Zabriskie has not been as uneatable in time trials this year as last year, and has not had the greatest of races here, but should still be favourite.
And then there is the GC battle. Fothen, Uran, Pluchkin and Dekker all rode in this year's Tour and in the final 51km time trial, Dekker was best of the 4 - beating Pluchkin by 4 seconds, beating Fothen by 20 seconds and beating Uran by 45 seconds. This of course is a completely different race, but it does suggest that Markus Fothen may not have too much to worry about in defending his race lead, provided he puts in a decent performance. The battle for the rest of the podium will be very interesting though! 2nd overall Castano and 6th overall Sella will likely be looking to limit their losses, and with 7th overall Popovych only 86 seconds ahead of 18th in GC, there is plenty of scope for a lot of positional changes behind.


Setting the early benchmark, surprise surprise, is Michael Ford of Vesuvio. Infact, he is first to finish - in 62 minutes and 14 seconds


Of the early Germans, Ford's teammate Barth is over a minute down, while Festina duo Gretsch and Schadlich are 22 and 29 seconds down respectively. It takes the Under 23 World TT Champion for the lead to change - Marcel Kittel beats Ford comfortably, 44 seconds.


Another German, Fiedler of Nespresso, goes level with Kittel at the first check - but fades to 18 seconds down. But its soon time for the Elite World Champion to replace the Under 23 World Champion in the leaders enclosure. Strong ride by Zabriskie, he beats Kittel by 1'57.


Dutchman Martijn Keizer follows soon after. Down in 77th overall, either he crashed unnoticed at some point, or is simply having a poor race, but its about to get a bit better. He goes 2nd, 1'32 down


Kai Reus goes 4th, 2'04 down.


And finally we reach the final 20 riders in GC. 16th overall Michael Rogers is almost certain to move up. 3 seconds down at the first check, 6 seconds at Zabriskie - he looks set for another defeat to Zabriskie.


It still must be a good time - he has caught and left behind both Van den Broeck and Efimkin. And as he crosses the line ... 1ST! Zabriskie is beaten, Rogers wins the stage by 6 seconds!

Lets take a look then at the leaders of teams currently within the relegation battle. Starbucks' Efimkin lost 4 and a half minutes and drops to 19th overall - losing out to Energie's Pedro Nicacio. The Brazilian also overtaking Madrazo in a 2 place rise. At 3'25 down on Rogers, Nicacio rode the exact same time as teammate Pozzovivvo. Pozzovivvo started the day in 10th overall, and fell below Rogers, Karpets, Caruso (good ride by the Italian, gaining 3 GC spots) and Nibali - but did move past Pedraza, Marquez and Sella - and so ends up losing the 1 spot to 11th. Gomez Marchante lost 2 places to fall to 15th, while as already mentioned, it was a strong ride by Vladimir Karpets. The Russian Champion may have lost 2 minutes and 17 seconds to Rogers, but climbs 6 places overall to 8th


Of the 'losers' Sinkewitz will fall 6 spots to 17th, Pedraza 5 spots to 14th, Marquez 8 spots to 16th and Sella 6 spots to 12th.

Onto another of those battling relegation then and Carmeuse' Popovych. His team are probably having the most successful races of those in that particular battle, but Popovych fails to improve upon his 7th overall. A 2'28 loss to Rogers was over a minute more than he could afford to give, and only made that up through moving past Sella


And before we head back to follow the leading 4 contenders through the whole stage, a word on Carlos Castano. 74 TT is not bad, but not enough to fight those around him. Losing 3'09 to Rogers, he drops to 6th overall. A fall of 4 places, but still a good end result for him - he ends a comfortable 31 seconds clear of Popovych in GC


So then. Dekker v Pluchkin v Uran for 2nd overall. At the start of the day, Uran is just 3 seconds ahead of Pluchkin, and 24 ahead of Dekker. Either of the 3 could be 2nd overall by the end of the day, but Dekker will not a notably strong ride to gain 20+ seconds on both Pluchkin and Uran


And also Markus Fothen. A time trialer at a similar level to the other 3, he will be glad to have earnt a good advantage into this stage and with home advantage on his side, shouldnt need to worry too much - with a 36 second advantage on Uran


Through the first check, and these 4 set the fastest times of everyone - excluding Zabriskie and Rogers of course. Perhaps surprisingly, it is Rigoberto Uran quickest at this stage. 4 seconds ahead of Dekker and Fothen, 5 seconds on Pluchkin.

And the Colombian continues his strong ride through to the next check. He has dipped just behind Keizer but extended his lead over his 3 rivals.


Dekker is at 13 seconds, Pluchkin 20 seconds and Fothen at 19 seconds. Now this gets really interesting! Rather than having to be defensive and hold off those behind, Uran is on the attack. He has already cut half of Fothen's GC advantage over him and with 15km to go, does Fothen have enough in the tank to respond?


First of the 4 to finish is Thomas Dekker. Last year's champion needed 22 seconds on Pluchkin, but only had 7 at the second check. Its not the strong ride he will have been looking for.


He finishes 4th, 1'49 down and oh dear that's not good at all! he only started the day 1'47 infront of Rogers in GC! Rogers is up to at least 4th overall now. If its any consolation for Dekker, points for his stage placing will give him a slender lead in the points classification.

Pluchkin keeps his losses on Dekker to 11 seconds, and that secures a podium place. But had it not been for the poor showing of Stage 3, he could perhaps have won this race.


Here's Uran then! Brilliant ride by the Colombian TT Champion, and the leading Young Rider in this race. He takes 3rd place at the finish - moving back ahead of Keizer in the end. He loses 1'33 to Rogers, but that doesnt really matter - has he pulled off a shock GC triumph?


Markus Fothen then, with a fight on his hands - and he is continuing to lose ground on Uran. Over the line he goes...


... and he has held on! 2 minutes down on Rogers - so level with Pluchkin, and 2 seconds ahead of Kittel - thus being the best German on the stage - and most important of all, still in the race lead. The margin? 9 seconds.

1	Michael Rogers	La Gazzetta dello Sport	59'27
2	David Zabriskie	Wikipedia	+ 5
3	Rigoberto Úran	Vesuvio-Accumalux	+ 1'33
4	Martijn Keizer	Team Nespresso	+ 1'38
5	Thomas Dekker	Philips - TDC	+ 1'49
6	Aleksandr Pluchkin	Team B&O	+ 2'00
7	Markus Fothen	Pearl Adidas	s.t.
8	Marcel Kittel	Vesuvio-Accumalux	+ 2'02
9	Kai Reus	Auber 93 - Look	+ 2'09
10	Vladimir Karpets	Team Nespresso	+ 2'17
11	Lars Boom	Auber 93 - Look	+ 2'21
12	Jacob Fiedler	Team Nespresso	s.t.
13	Jaroslav Popovych	Carmeuse Cyclisme	+ 2'28
14	Pierre Rolland	Auber 93 - Look	+ 2'43
15	Vincenzo Nibali	Domina Vacanze	+ 2'44
16	Sebastian Lang	Sony Ericsson	+ 2'45
17	Michael Ford	Vesuvio-Accumalux	+ 2'47
18	André Steensen	Team B&O	+ 2'55
19	Maxime Bouet	Auber 93 - Look	+ 2'57
20	Nico Keinath	Team B&O	+ 2'58
21	Gianpaolo Caruso	Lafarge	+ 3'03
22	Carlos Castaño	Festina - Corona	+ 3'09
23	Patrick Gretsch	Festina - Corona	s.t.
24	Jurgen Van den Broeck	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	+ 3'11
25	William Bonnet	Lafarge	+ 3'15
26	Tom Danielson	Lipton Ice Tea	+ 3'16
27	Lucas Schädlich	Festina - Corona	s.t.
28	Jason Donald	Jack Wolfskin	+ 3'19
29	Kristjan Koren	Team Starbucks-RadioShack	+ 3'24
30	Roman Kreuziger	Team B&O	+ 3'25
31	Domenico Pozzovivo	Energie - Diesel	s.t.
32	Pedro Nicácio	Energie - Diesel	s.t.
33	Tim Dees	Festina - Corona	+ 3'26
34	Fabio Duarte	Café de Colombia	+ 3'30
35	Gustavo Veloso	Energie - Diesel	+ 3'34
36	Rick Flens	La Gazzetta dello Sport	+ 3'37
37	Michael Faerk Christensen	Team B&O	+ 3'41
38	Tanel Kangert	Pearl Adidas	s.t.
39	Adrian Laidler	Lafarge	+ 3'43
40	Mathieu Bernaudeau	Festina - Corona	+ 3'45
41	Lars Ytting Bak	Philips - TDC	+ 3'46
42	Jurgen Van Goolen	Festina - Corona	+ 3'52
43	Andrei Grivko	Team B&O	+ 3'55
44	Angel Madrazo	Festina - Corona	+ 3'56
45	Thomas Bontenackels	Lipton Ice Tea	+ 3'58
46	Mikayil Krasnoperov	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	s.t.
47	Michael Schär	Team Nespresso	s.t.
48	Freddy Johansson	Sony Ericsson	+ 3'59
49	Andrew Tennant	Café de Colombia	+ 4'01
50	Christian Meier	Wikipedia	+ 4'02
51	Egoi Martínez de Esteban	Philips - TDC	+ 4'04
52	Kristof Vandewalle	La Gazzetta dello Sport	s.t.
53	Denis Menchov	Lafarge	+ 4'07
54	Marcel Barth	Vesuvio-Accumalux	s.t.
55	Matea Kvasina	Vesuvio-Accumalux	+ 4'08
56	Jesus Tendero	Energie - Diesel	s.t.
57	Ivan Kovalev	Wikipedia	s.t.
58	José Angel Gomez Marchante	Café de Colombia	+ 4'11
59	Branislav Samoilev	Pearl Adidas	+ 4'13
60	Luigi Sestili	Lafarge	+ 4'15
61	Jos Van Emden	Jack Wolfskin	+ 4'16
62	Walter Pedraza	Sony Ericsson	s.t.
63	Sergio Ghisalberti	Lipton Ice Tea	+ 4'18
64	Jakub Danacik	Sony Ericsson	+ 4'20
65	Florian Morizot	Auber 93 - Look	+ 4'21
66	Angel Vicioso	Energie - Diesel	+ 4'26
67	Niels Scheunemann	Philips - TDC	+ 4'28
68	Kristof Goddaert	Festina - Corona	s.t.
69	Carlos Barredo	Warner Brothers - Carrefour	+ 4'29
70	Viktor Renäng	Sony Ericsson	s.t.
71	Benoît Vaugrenard	Jack Wolfskin	+ 4'30
72	Yoann Offredo	Pearl Adidas	s.t.
73	Vladimir Efimkin	Team Starbucks-RadioShack	+ 4'32
74	Emanuele Sella	Lipton Ice Tea	+ 4'33
75	Koen De Kort	Jack Wolfskin	+ 4'34
76	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Team B&O	+ 4'36
77	Matthieu Sprick	Wikipedia	s.t.
78	Blake Caldwell	Wikipedia	+ 4'39
79	William Ford	Auber 93 - Look	+ 4'41
80	Andreas Klöden	Café de Colombia	+ 4'42
81	Nick Clesen	Vesuvio-Accumalux	+ 4'43
82	Jairo Agudelo	La Gazzetta dello Sport	+ 4'47
83	Pim Ligthart	Auber 93 - Look	+ 4'48
84	Florentino Marquez	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	+ 4'50
85	Patrik Sinkewitz	Auber 93 - Look	+ 4'51
86	Hugues Mottin	Team Nespresso	+ 4'52
87	Francisco Colorado	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	+ 4'53
88	Tony Martin	Domina Vacanze	+ 4'54
89	Óscar Pereiro Sio	Café de Colombia	s.t.
90	Paul Healion	Café de Colombia	+ 4'55
91	Jens Mouris	Philips - TDC	+ 4'56
92	Robert Kiserlovski	Team Starbucks-RadioShack	+ 4'58
93	Remmert Wielinga	La Gazzetta dello Sport	+ 4'59
94	Olivier Kaisen	Wikipedia	+ 5'01
95	Marcel Sieberg	Jack Wolfskin	+ 5'02
96	Tyler Farrar	Wikipedia	+ 5'03
97	Baden Cooke	Domina Vacanze	+ 5'04
98	William Walker	Pearl Adidas	+ 5'06
99	Jurgen Roelandts	Carmeuse Cyclisme	+ 5'07
100	Markus Eibegger	Domina Vacanze	+ 5'08
101	Jaime Suaza	Carmeuse Cyclisme	s.t.
102	Phillip Thuaux	Lafarge	+ 5'10
103	Domenik Klemme	Team B&O	+ 5'11
104	Maarten Tjallingii	Philips - TDC	+ 5'12
105	Jackson Rodríguez	Pearl Adidas	s.t.
106	Assan Bazajev	Sony Ericsson	s.t.
107	Gregor Gazvoda	Lipton Ice Tea	s.t.
108	Trent Lowe	Team Starbucks-RadioShack	+ 5'15
109	Martin Mortensen	Sony Ericsson	+ 5'16
110	Daniel Moreno	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	s.t.
111	Francisco Mancebo	Jack Wolfskin	+ 5'18
112	Enrico Franzoi	Pearl Adidas	s.t.
113	Kenny De Ketele	Warner Brothers - Carrefour	+ 5'19
114	Thomas Faiers	Vesuvio-Accumalux	s.t.
115	Cameron Meyer	Sony Ericsson	+ 5'23
116	Paul Martens	Jack Wolfskin	+ 5'24
117	William Germán Rodríguez Parra	Café de Colombia	s.t.
118	Elia Viviani	Energie - Diesel	+ 5'32
119	Mauro Santambrogio	La Gazzetta dello Sport	s.t.
120	Björn Schröder	Domina Vacanze	+ 5'35
121	Nick Nuyens	Domina Vacanze	+ 5'36
122	Magno Nazaret	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	+ 5'37
123	Morgan Kneisky	Carmeuse Cyclisme	+ 5'44
124	Marco Pinotti	Café de Colombia	+ 5'46
125	Jose Mendes	Team Nespresso	+ 5'48
126	Jakob Fuglsang	Philips - TDC	s.t.
127	Matthew Lloyd	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	+ 5'49
128	Pedro Sibila Romero	Team Starbucks-RadioShack	+ 6'01
129	Romain Vanderbiest	Pearl Adidas	+ 6'03
130	Remberto Jaramillo	Team Starbucks-RadioShack	+ 6'08
131	Francisco José Terciado	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	+ 6'11
132	Kristjan Fajt	Team Starbucks-RadioShack	+ 6'12
133	José Joaquin Rojas Gil	Energie - Diesel	+ 6'16
134	Massimiliano Maisto	La Gazzetta dello Sport	+ 6'24
135	Adam Petrie-Armstrong	Lipton Ice Tea	+ 6'31
136	Francisco Matamoros	Lipton Ice Tea	+ 6'32
137	Héctor Hugo Rangel	Lafarge	+ 6'36
138	Alexis Castro Rodriguez	Warner Brothers - Carrefour	s.t.
139	Lluis Mas	Lipton Ice Tea	+ 6'38
140	Wilmer Vasquez	La Gazzetta dello Sport	+ 6'43
141	Michael Van Stayen	Jack Wolfskin	+ 6'46
142	Ben Gastauer	Vesuvio-Accumalux	s.t.
143	Willem Van Den Eynde	Carmeuse Cyclisme	+ 6'51
144	Óscar Solis	Carmeuse Cyclisme	+ 6'58
145	Fabien Taillefour	Lafarge	+ 7'02
146	Stefan Cohnen	Philips - TDC	+ 7'06
147	Greg De Winde	Warner Brothers - Carrefour	+ 7'16
148	Héctor Fabian Aguilar	Team Nespresso	+ 7'18
149	Alexander Giraldo	Warner Brothers - Carrefour	+ 7'21
150	Jean-François Camier	Carmeuse Cyclisme	+ 7'24
151	Andrew Fenn	Carmeuse Cyclisme	+ 7'26
152	Marco Alexandre Ferreira Cunha	Energie - Diesel	+ 7'29
153	Mauro Facci	Warner Brothers - Carrefour	+ 7'44
154	Johann Tschopp	Team Starbucks-RadioShack	+ 7'49
155	Ivano Lo Cicero	Team Nespresso	+ 7'55
156	Muhammet Eyüp Karagobek	Warner Brothers - Carrefour	+ 7'56
157	Sid Taberlay	Domina Vacanze	+ 7'59
158	Thurakit Boonratanathanakorn	Team 1	s.t.
159	Kevin Hulsmans	Warner Brothers - Carrefour	+ 8'10
160	Isaac Speirs	Domina Vacanze	+ 8'16

GC

1	Markus Fothen	Pearl Adidas	28h25'44
2	Rigoberto Úran	Vesuvio-Accumalux	+ 9
3	Aleksandr Pluchkin	Team B&O	+ 39
4	Michael Rogers	La Gazzetta dello Sport	+ 47
5	Thomas Dekker	Philips - TDC	+ 49
6	Carlos Castaño	Festina - Corona	+ 1'32
7	Jaroslav Popovych	Carmeuse Cyclisme	+ 2'03
8	Vladimir Karpets	Team Nespresso	+ 2'50
9	Gianpaolo Caruso	Lafarge	+ 3'12
10	Vincenzo Nibali	Domina Vacanze	+ 3'19
11	Domenico Pozzovivo	Energie - Diesel	+ 3'29
12	Emanuele Sella	Lipton Ice Tea	+ 3'41
13	Jurgen Van den Broeck	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	+ 4'02
14	Walter Pedraza	Sony Ericsson	+ 4'14
15	José Angel Gomez Marchante	Café de Colombia	+ 4'26
16	Florentino Marquez	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	+ 4'42
17	Patrik Sinkewitz	Auber 93 - Look	+ 4'56
18	Pedro Nicácio	Energie - Diesel	+ 5'31
19	Vladimir Efimkin	Team Starbucks-RadioShack	+ 5'33
20	Angel Madrazo	Festina - Corona	+ 5'35
21	Fabio Duarte	Café de Colombia	+ 5'47
22	Tom Danielson	Lipton Ice Tea	+ 5'53
23	Gustavo Veloso	Energie - Diesel	+ 7'24
24	Francisco Colorado	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	s.t.
25	Daniel Moreno	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	+ 7'46
26	Matea Kvasina	Vesuvio-Accumalux	+ 7'51
27	Magno Nazaret	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	+ 8'07
28	Tim Dees	Festina - Corona	+ 8'54
29	Mikayil Krasnoperov	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	+ 9'05
30	Lars Boom	Auber 93 - Look	+ 9'12
31	Kai Reus	Auber 93 - Look	s.t.
32	Nico Keinath	Team B&O	+ 9'17
33	Francisco Mancebo	Jack Wolfskin	+ 9'18
34	Tanel Kangert	Pearl Adidas	+ 9'24
35	Pierre Rolland	Auber 93 - Look	+ 9'46
36	Jairo Agudelo	La Gazzetta dello Sport	+ 9'47
37	Florian Morizot	Auber 93 - Look	+ 9'48
38	Branislav Samoilev	Pearl Adidas	+ 9'55
39	Andrei Grivko	Team B&O	+ 10'21
40	Sergio Ghisalberti	Lipton Ice Tea	+ 10'44
41	Andreas Klöden	Café de Colombia	+ 10'48
42	Jurgen Van Goolen	Festina - Corona	+ 10'50
43	Phillip Thuaux	Lafarge	+ 10'55
44	Denis Menchov	Lafarge	+ 10'58
45	Óscar Pereiro Sio	Café de Colombia	+ 11'00
46	Markus Eibegger	Domina Vacanze	+ 11'11
47	Jakub Danacik	Sony Ericsson	+ 11'16
48	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Team B&O	+ 11'21
49	Robert Kiserlovski	Team Starbucks-RadioShack	+ 11'27
50	Domenik Klemme	Team B&O	+ 11'36

Points

1	Thomas Dekker	Philips - TDC	91
2	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Team B&O	87
3	Michael Van Stayen	Jack Wolfskin	87
4	Jurgen Roelandts	Carmeuse Cyclisme	71
5	Markus Fothen	Pearl Adidas	69
6	Mauro Facci	Warner Brothers - Carrefour	69
7	Carlos Castaño	Festina - Corona	67
8	Michael Rogers	La Gazzetta dello Sport	66
9	Romain Vanderbiest	Pearl Adidas	62
10	Rigoberto Úran	Vesuvio-Accumalux	59

KoM

1	Mauro Santambrogio	La Gazzetta dello Sport	62
2	Johann Tschopp	Team Starbucks-RadioShack	62
3	Aleksandr Pluchkin	Team B&O	49
4	Christian Meier	Wikipedia	46
5	Emanuele Sella	Lipton Ice Tea	39
6	Markus Fothen	Pearl Adidas	36
7	Francisco Matamoros	Lipton Ice Tea	35
8	Jaroslav Popovych	Carmeuse Cyclisme	32
9	Nick Nuyens	Domina Vacanze	32
10	Carlos Castaño	Festina - Corona	31

Young

1	Rigoberto Úran	Vesuvio-Accumalux	28h25'53 (1)
2	Aleksandr Pluchkin	Team B&O	+ 30 (2)
3	Florentino Marquez	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	+ 4'33 (3)
4	Angel Madrazo	Festina - Corona	+ 5'26 (4)
5	Fabio Duarte	Café de Colombia	+ 5'38 (5)
6	Magno Nazaret	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	+ 7'58 (6)
7	Tim Dees	Festina - Corona	+ 8'45 (7)
8	Mikayil Krasnoperov	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	+ 8'56 (8)
9	Nico Keinath	Team B&O	+ 9'08 (9)
10	Tanel Kangert	Pearl Adidas	+ 9'15 (10)

Teams

1	La Gazzetta dello Sport	83h33'33 (1)
2	Sport Lisboa e Benfica	+ 2'24 (2)
3	Festina - Corona	+ 5'17 (3)
4	Energie - Diesel	+ 5'23 (4)
5	Pearl Adidas	+ 6'17 (5)