One last time trial, but it's sure to mean nothing to the Maillot Oro, and probably won't disturb Carlos Sastre's hold on the second step. It's 20km and board-flat. For reference, everyone said Greg LeMond couldn't make up 50 seconds on Laurent Fignon to win the 1989 Tour de France; at 25km it was just too short. OK, it'wasn't, but if that's the gold standard, then presumably Menchov's three-minute lead isn't up for grabs over 20km. Or put another way, in the earlier 52km time trial, the four top guys were separated by about 2.45.
At 3.02, Sastre isn't completely safe from Cadel Evans 47" back; Evans has been known to pull off a decent time trial... but Carlos should hold on, especially given his history of decent penultimate time trials in the Vuelta. Sánchez, meanwhile, is 56" back of Sastre, though only 9 seconds adrift of Evans in third. Here's where the battle is truly joined. Ordinarily I'd give Evans an advantage, but Sánchez can surely do it. If it comes down to who's the strongest, that'd be Sam-Sán right now.
Anyway, it's the end of the grand tour season save for tomorrow's parade. So enjoy!