Australian Cadel Evans remains in fourth position overall after 19 stages in the Tour de France as Carlos Sastre maintained his lead.
Evans trails the Spaniard by one minute and 34 seconds with Frank Schleck and Bernhard Kohl in second and third spot respectively.
However, the 19th stage belonged to Sylvain Chavanel as he bade farewell to Cofidis by delivering a second Tour de France stage win for the French team in the 163-kilometre flat stage from Roanne to Montlucon.
It was a quiet day in the peloton, with the main contenders and time-trial specialists content to save their legs for Saturday's decisive stage against the clock.
Sastre, Schleck, Kohl, Evans and Denis Menchov all came into Montlucon at the same time, meaning there is no change at the top of the general classification.
Evans, the best time-triallist of the five, must beat Sastre by 95 seconds in the 53km stage from Cerilly to St Amand Montrond to take back the yellow jersey.
With just the traditional ride into Paris coming on Sunday, whoever is in the maillot jaune at the end of the time-trial should be assured of Tour victory.
The outcome could also be dependent on the weather in the Auvergne, with showers and winds a real possibility.
The few hills that punctuate the start of the stage could suit Sastre, a brilliant climber.
Team CSC also has the advantage of sending Sastre and Schleck out after Evans, which will give them the advantage of regular time checks.
The Spaniard has made serious attempts to improve his time-trialling abilities, but he is still expected to lose time to the more powerful Evans and Menchov, regardless of the conditions.
Chavanel signed a two-year deal with Quick Step this week, but his breakaway victory on the 19th stage should ensure that he parts with Cofidis on good terms.
The French national time-trial champion was allowed to escape with Francaise des Jeux's Jeremy Roy near Charmeil, and Team Milram's attempts to catch them in the last 10km failed.
Roy sat on his opponent's wheel for too long, allowing Chavanel to control the final few metres and take his seventh victory of the season.
Gerald Ciolek of Team Columbia triumphed in the sprint for third place, ahead of veteran Erik Zabel.
Kiwi Julian Dean finished the stage in 10th position 1:13 off Chavanel, as did Aussies Evans (22nd), Robbie McEwen (28th), Stuart O'Grady (30th), Adam Hansen (62nd), Trent Lowe (76th), Simon Gerrans (90th) and Brett Lancaster (123rd).
Chavanel took the first Tour de France stage win of his career, and the second in this year's race for Cofidis after Samuel Dumoulin broke away to win the third stage from St Malo to Nantes.
The Frenchman has also been the most aggressive rider in the peloton, with three attempted breakaways and now one success.
"This has been my best season so far, now I have my seventh win this year," an emotional Chavanel told letour.fr.
"I never believed it would happen this morning. Yesterday evening I was suffering from a bad back, and I had to call the osteopath for help during the night."
"During the first hour of the stage, the pace was very quick. I stayed in the top 20 places, but I could not form part of the first escape."
"It was all very frustrating, but I told myself I could launch a counter-attack, and I did."
"In the final sprint I