Sastre keeps yellow jersey in Tour de France

(CNN) -- Spain's Carlos Sastre confounded the form book to hold on to the race leader's yellow jersey in the Tour de France after an inspired performance in Saturday's 53 kilometers time trial.

Germany's Stefan Schumacher won the stage in a time of one hour three minutes and 50 seconds, but the main attention focused on battle for yellow with only Sunday's final stage into Paris remaining.

CSC's Sastre was protecting a one minute 34 seconds lead over fourth-placed Cadel Evans, a noted specialist against the clock, with other places on the podium also in the balance.

Silence-Lotto leader Evans completed the course in one hour five minutes and 55 seconds for seventh place, but Sastre, going off last man, rode the time trial of his life to concede only 29 seconds to the Australian.

Realizing the significance of his performance, Sastre punched the air with delight in the closing meters of his ride and he holds a one minute and five seconds advantage over Evans in the overall classification.

"This is the dream of my life that's become a reality now," Sastre told the Associated Press.

"At the end of the race, I was feeling better and better and was in top form at the end of this week."

He is now almost certain to become the third Spaniard in a row to capture cycling's most famous race.

Alberto Contador won last year, and Oscar Pereiro inherited the 2006 title after Floyd Landis of the United States was disqualified for doping.

Austria's Bernhard Kohl also rode above expectation to retain third overall at one minute 20 seconds in arrears. Denis Menchov of Russia is fourth at two minutes.

The big loser overall was Luxembourg's Frank Schleck, who was caught by his CSC teammate Sastre for three minutes, and slipped from second to sixth overall.

Schumacher was backing up his win in the Tour's first time trial as he beat Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland into second place by 21 seconds on the largely flat stage to Saint-Amand-Montrond from Cerilly.

Kim Kirchen of Luxembourg finished third on the stage and moved up to seventh overall.