A slightly inferior than usual Contador in the last time trial of this year's TdF gifts us with an exciting finale.
On a single-way course, conditioned by strong headwind, Andy Schleck was actually gaining time over Alberto in the first 18 km, threatening the yellow jersey.

A more aerodynamic position for Alberto, a more powerful pedaling action for Andy, pushing a long gear resulting in 95-97RPM, as opposed to the 105-107RPM of his rival.
They were riding at approximately the same speed, but the young luxemburger produced force peaks for each pedal stroke that were 10-12% higher than the spaniard.

Schleck paid the effort with the distance, probably also because of the strong headwind penalizing his less aerodynamic position; the stronger attitude of Contador for time trialing eventually paid off, but showing a certain uneasiness in keeping the position on the saddle.

Cancellara won the TT, but only with a 17" advantage over an ever growing Tony Martin, while among the GC leaders, heavily affected by the headwind that was not present in the morning, Denis Menchov dominated with an impressive performance, enabling him to reach the lower place on the podium.

Disappointing instead were those riders coming from the Giro d' Italia (except Vinokourov): Basso, Evans and Wiggins, even though with different motivations, confirmed the difficulty in expressing top level performances for as long a period as 3 months.