Quick Step rider Nick Nuyens won Saturday's Tour of Britain time trial in Birmingham to hold an eight second lead going into Sunday's final stage. Nuyens has led since the first stage and clocked a winning time of four minutes 54.06 secs on Saturday, 0.75 secs ahead of Kurt-Asle Arvesen.
Team CSC's Michael Blaudzun, who lies second overall, finished third, with Britain's Paul Manning in fourth place.
Sunday's final stage round Whitehall starts at 1515 BST.
Three sprint bonuses are available during Sunday's stage, so there are still chances for the field to catch the Belgian leader, but he remains hot favourite to win the race.
"It's nice, the team has a good chance because I know I'm faster than Blaudzun if it comes down to the sprints," said Nuyens.
"The team are really strong. It's not been easy for them with a team of just six and the stages are really hard so I owed them something and that's why I had to win the stage to make sure of keeping the jersey."
Stage five leading positions:
1 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Quick Step 4mins 54.06 secs
2 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC at 0.75 secs
3 Michael Blaudzun
(Den) Team CSC at 1.21
4 Paul Manning (GB) Recycling.co.uk/Litespeed at 3.88
5 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quick Step-Innergetic at 5.14,
6 Ben Day (Aus) Mr
Bookmaker-Sports Tech at 9.01
7 Luca Paolini (Ita) Quick Step-Innergetic at
11.13
8 Eric Baumann (Ger) T-Mobile at 11.47
9 Chris Newton (Gbr)
Recycling.co.uk/Litespeed at 12.37
10 Bram Schmitz (Ned) T-Mobile at 12.48 Leading overall positions:
1 Nick Nuyens (Bel) QuickStep 17hrs 33 mins 38 secs
2 Michael Blaudzun (Den) Team CSC at 0.08 secs
3 Javier Cherro Molina (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana at 0.23
4 Ben Day (Aus) Mr
Bookmaker-Sports Tech at 0.28
5 Phil Zajicek (USA) Naviagators Insurance at 0.33
6 Bert de Waele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet Colnago at 0.34
7 Frederik
Veuchelen (Bel) T-Interim at 0.40
8 Michael Rogers (Aus)
Quick Step at 1.09
9 Jurgen Van De Walle (Bel) Landbouwkrediet
Colnago at 1.20
10 Erwin Thijs (Bel) Mr Bookmaker-Sports Tech at 1.21
MMIX
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