Peter Velits was the top finisher in an up and down, technical 34.2km Tour de Suisse Stage 7 in Gossau on Friday.
Velits was 43" back from stage winner Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana Pro Team), who bested time trial powerhouse Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack-Nissan) by 2". Maxime Monfort finished 20" back from Kessiakoff for third. The time trial also created a GC shakeup. After the stage, Frank Schleck, who finished 23rd in the stage (+1'37"), dropped from 2nd in the GC to 5th. Kreuziger moved into 2nd, and Robert Gesink (Rabobank) now rounds out the podium. Rui Costa (Movistar) only improved upon his GC lead, placing 8th in the time trial (+41"). Leipheimer, who had a first checkpoint time of 19'54", finished 16h (+1'19"). However, he improved to 7th in the GC, 1'15" back. The team looks next to the 148km eighth stage, from Bischofszell to Arosa, on Saturday.