Jens Voigt of CSC surprised several time trial specialists by winning the Tour of Germany's eighth stage Friday and all but ensuring a repeat of last year’s overall victory.

Voigt, the defending champion, dominated the penultimate stage, a 33.1km time trial, in a time of 39:42 to hold off Laszlo Bodrogi of Hungary and American Levi Leipheimer.

Bodrogi finished second at 14 seconds while Leipheimer, who finished third overall in the Tour de France thanks mainly to his efforts in the race's second time trial, was third at 25.

Leipheimer, who is on the lookout for a new team following Discovery Channel's decision to fold, appeared to have the stage victory wrapped up when he held a lead of 26sec on Voigt at the 26km mark.

But in the remaining kilometers the American suffered a spectacular collapse which left him trailing Voigt by 25sec at the finish line, moving up to second overall ahead of the ninth and final stage into Hanover on Saturday.

Voigt was stunned but happy to finish the day on top of the podium with the race leader's yellow jersey still on his shoulders.

"It's great to cap the end of the race by winning this time trial," said Voigt, who barring catastrophe in Saturday's mainly flat stage will become the first rider to defend the title.

"I'm really proud to become the first rider to win the race twice consecutively."

Voigt's closest challenger is Leipheimer, who is second overall at 1:57.

The American later admitted he was still feeling the effects of a "really tough" Tour de France.

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Results Stage 8
1. Jens Voigt (G), CSC, at 39:42.4
2. Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun), Credit Agricole, at 0:14.8
3. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Discovery Channel, at 0:25:6
4. Jason McCartney (USA), Discovery Channel, at 0:39.1
5. Linus Gerdemann (G), T-Mobile, at 0:39.8
6. Marco Pinotti (I), T-Mobile, at 0:43.7
7. Leonardo Bertagnolli (I), Liquigas, at 0:46.1
8. Gustav Erik Larsson (S), Unibet, at 0:46.5
9. Bobby Julich (USA), CSC, at 0:50.3
10. Joost Posthuma (Nl), Rabobank, at 1:14.6Other North Americans
13. George Hincapie (USA), Discovery Channel, at 1:36.0
43. Tom Danielson (USA), Discovery Channel, at 2:47.6

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Overall
1. Jens Voigt (G), CSC, at 27:40:26
2. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Discovery Channel, at 1:57
3. David Lopez Garcia (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne, at 2:10
4. Leonardo Bertagnolli (I), Liquigas, at 3:05
5. Robert Gesink (Nl), Rabobank, at 3:15
6. Chris Anker Sørensen (Dk), CSC, at 4:06
7. Maxime Monfort (B), Cofidis, at 5:22
8. Laurens Ten Dam (Nl), Unibet, at 5:26
9. Gustav Erik Larsson (S), Unibet, at 6:08
10. Davide Rebellin (I), Gerolsteiner, at 6:16Other North Americans
22. Bobby Julich (USA), CSC, at 7:55
27. George Hincapie (USA), Discovery Channel, at 8:23
29. Tom Danielson (USA), Discovery Channel, at 8:37
43. Jason McCartney (USA), Discovery Channel, at 13:02FullResults