A 38 km. time trial is waiting for the riders today. At one point, it's evalating a little, but it will probably not have any huge effect on today's outcome. Today's favourite is Zabriskie who will fight to take his jersey back. Millar hasn't been looking good the past few days, but may take revenge today. We also have Ignatiev, Lang and Reus on the list of competitors for today's stage win.
Stannard of Virgin is 2nd lowest in the GC, but he's a pretty good time triallist, so with a good time he would be able to take the lead for a while. That didn't happen, though, as his time was soon beaten by a whole lot of other riders with Gretsch from Festina being the most impressive.
50 riders later, Sebastian Lang came along, one of the favourites for today's stage win. And he did what he was expected to do. On the first intermediate check, he beat Gretsch's time with 32 seconds. Behind him, Scheunemann was also doing well, but not nearly as well as Lang. As expected, Lang also took the 1st place when he reached the finish line, having cut off 1 minute and 12 seconds off Gretsch's time.
Minutes later, Scheunemann took 2nd, but he was far from beating Lang's time.
Waiting for a while again, Mazur, the Polish time trial champion, was noticed when he removed Scheunemann from the 2nd place. However, it still seemed very unlikely that Lang's time was going to be beaten. Both Donald of Slipstream and Hushovd of Festina were nearing the intermediate check, but only Donald lived up to the expectations by beating Mazur's time.
When Mazur reached goal, his time was 44 seconds slower than Lang's. Donald came in a little later, 47'11, 31 seconds slower than Lang.
So, waiting started again, and Lang's time proved to be hard to beat. It looked like a task that only Zabriskie and Millar would be able to do anything about, and both of them are quite high in the GC. So, I waited and waited.
18th placed Jurgen Van Goolen did make the waiting time easier, though. On the intermediate check, he had a time of 23'26, 10 seconds slower than Lang. Shortly after, his team mate Brian Vandborg got it in a time that was 3 seconds slower (than Goolen). Not even Ignatiev managed to beat Lang's time on the intermediate check. But then, Millar came along! With 23'08, he chopped off 8 seconds.
.. and a little later, Zabriskie passed the intermediate check, 19 seconds better than Millar! A time no one else managed to beat. Very impressive by the American who also managed to win the prologue a few days ago. Poor Millar At the same time, Goolen had taken third and Vandborg fourth at the finish. But this was going to be a challenge between Zabriskie and Millar.
Reus took the third place from Vandborg, and later, pre-race favourite Ignatiev took 2nd. Sebastian Lang is still leading at this point, but as said, Millar and Zubeldia are coming from behind. And Millar lived up to the expectations with 46'26, 14 seconds better than Lang. On the route, Zabriskie has just overtaked Gerdemann, showing how strong he is. Zubeldia passes the line, 12th, and here comes Zabriskie -- and it's more than enough to take the win today. What a time by him -- 45'35! Bye, bye, Millar. And despite Zirbel really, really fighting for his jersey by getting a 10th place, it's not anywhere near enough for him.
At the same time, Goolen had taken third and Vandborg fourth at the finish. But this was going to be a challenge between Zabriskie and Millar.
