Team Sky's Welshman Geraint Thomas finished fourth in the Bayernrundfahrt Time Trial to lift him to second in the General Classification going into the final stage.
Lampre's Adriano Malori won the 31.2km time trial around Einzelzeitfahren in Schierling in a time of 38:19.35 to take overall lead of the race after previous race leader Gerald Ciolek could only record a time slower by 1.22.22.
Thomas, who again, has ridden well throughout the race, came in 19.62 seconds slowed than Malori for a fourth place behind TET Thuringer's Jasha Sutterlin and Net App's Jan Barta.
That fourth place, which also helped Team Sky to the top of the team classification, means that Thomas is now only 23 seconds behind Maloiri ahead of the final 169.8km stage from Kelheim to Nüremberg.