T-Mobile's Jan Ullrich won the eighth stage of the Tour of Germany, 31.1km time trial from Ludwigshafen to Weinheim, on Monday, but American Levi Leipheimer managed to preserve his hold on the overall lead, conceding 54 seconds to the German.

The T-Mobile team leader Ullrich recorded a winning time of 36 minutes and 56 seconds to finish 11 seconds ahead of American Bobby Julich (CSC) and 54 seconds up on Leipheimer.

Leipheimer, sixth in this year's Tour de France, retains the yellow jersey heading into Tuesday's 168km final stage run from Bad Kreuznach to Bonn.

Ullrich is now 31 seconds behind Leipheimer but the flat final stage gives the German rider little chance of overcoming that deficit and his post match quotes indicated he had already accepted defeat.

... and Leipheimer did what he had to.

Photo: Agence France Presse

"Today was my last chance," admitted Ullrich. "I took it by winning the stage but I did not manage to get myself in front of Leipheimer. Nevertheless this victory was very important for me."

Results - Stage 8, Tour of Germany
Ludwigshafen to Weinheim -Individual time trial
1. Jan Ullrich, T-Mobile, 31.1km in 36:56
2. Bobby Julich, CSC, at 0:11
3. Levi Leipheimer, Gerolsteiner, at 0:54
4. Jörg Jaksche, Liberty Seguros, at 1:02
5. Marzio Bruseghin, Fassa Bortolo, at 1:11
6. Fabian Cancellara, Fassa Bortolo, at 1:22
7. Jens Voigt, CSC, at 1:36
8. Peter Luttenberger, CSC, at 1:37
9. Bert Grabsch, Phonak, at 1:42
10. Georg Totschnig, Gerolsteiner, at 1:44
Full results

Overall, after 8 Stages1. Levi Leipheimer, Gerolsteiner, 33:31:28
2. Jan Ullrich, T-Mobile, at 0:00:31
3. Georg Totschnig, Gerolsteiner, at 0:01:23
4. Jörg Jaksche, Liberty Seguros, at 0:01:29
5. Cadel Evans, Davitamon-Lotto, at 0:01:53
6. Tadej Valjavec, Phonak, at 0:03:53
7. Fabian Jeker, Saunier Duval, at 0:04:26
8. Marzio Bruseghin, Fassa Bortolo, at 0:05:07
9. Saul Raisin, Credit Agricole, at 0:06:03
10. Patrik Sinkewitz, Quickstep, at 0:06:30
Fullresults