Geraint Thomas headed into today's time trial in the Bayern Rundfahrt hoping that he could take the overall lead. Being up against the likes of Fabian Cancellara, he never expected to win the stage but surprised himself by taking it all in the German race.

Geraint Thomas pulled out a storming ride in the stage four time trial to move into the race lead at Bayern Rundfahrt. The Welshman motored across the undulating 25.5-kilometre course in a winning time of 30 minutes and 48 seconds to put himself in the box seat to replicated his 2011 victory in the event.

Heading into the decisive stage just 14 seconds down on overnight leader Matthias Frank (IAM Cycling), Thomas was fastest through both splits in Wassertrudingen to ensure he takes a 19-second lead into Sunday’s final stage.

Vasil Kiryienka also set a great time out on course, setting a time good enough for fourth and in turn elevating himself to third overall in Germany, 35 seconds back on his team-mate.

Jan Barta (NetApp-Endura) and Anton Vorobyev (Katusha) rounded out the podium places on the day, three and four seconds respectively behind Thomas who will head to Nuremberg on Sunday looking to close out the race.

 “It was great to take the jersey but it was really nice to win the stage too," Thomas told TeamSky.com. "I wasn’t expecting that to be honest. There are quite a few good time triallist here – Fabian (Cancellara), Jan Barta, (David) Millar and quite a few other decent guys so it was a nice bonus to take the stage.”

“I was quite relaxed heading into the stage and looking forward to a good blast around. It was all about trying to ride it well and I think I did that. I didn’t feel super but I felt like I could get some decent power out. It was just nice to finish it off.”

“It was nice to get into the lead after the boys have helped me the last few days. The last few years this final stage has been a sprint. We’ve got a strong team to defend that and barring any incidents I’m hoping it should be okay. There’s just 160km to go I guess.”

With Team Sky sitting first and third overall, in addition to leading the team classification, it was no surprise that Sports Director Gabriel Rasch was a happy man.

“It was a really impressive ride from G [Thomas] to win the stage and it’s great to see him go into the lead,” said the Norwegian. “Kiry [Kiryienka] was also really strong and to have two guys in the podium positions just shows how strong the team is.”

“The course wasn’t overly technical. It was pretty flat for the first part and then the second half was a bit more lumpy with a few one kilometre climbs. It was definitely a good one for our guys as they showed.”

“There’s still one stage to go and we need to make sure we keep our concentration. The guys are looking good. Everyone is really up for defending the jersey tomorrow.”