Three teams dominated the time trial: Discovery Channel, Caisse d'Epargne and Predictor-Lotto. Vladimir Karpets, current Spanish time trial champion, Iván Gutiérrez and Óscar Pereiro secured 3rd, 6th and 8th positions respectively for Caisse d'Epargne. On the other hand, Discovery Channel and Predictor-Lotto set up a fierce fight for the overall standings, primarily involving Alberto Contador, Levi Leipheimer and Cadel Evans. Of the top three GC riders, Leipheimer was the first off the start ramp followed by Evans and Contador. Leipheimer dominated the time trial, passing his three-minute man, Carlos Sastre, and shattering everyone's time at each intermediate time check before beating Karpets' time at the finish by almost two minutes. On the course, Evans needed to gain two seconds per kilometer on Contador in order to take the maillot jaune but he fell short of his goal by 23 seconds. He eventually completed the course in 1h 03' 35", 51 seconds behind Leipheimer. After Leipheimer and Evans completed the course, Contador needed to cross the finish line within 1h 05' 25" in order to keep the yellow jersey. In the end, he crossed the line in a time of 1h 05' 02", just enough to keep the yellow jersey heading into the final flat ceremonial stage to Champs-Élysées in Paris, putting him on the verge of winning his first Grand Tour.