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.