Phonak's Robert Hunter will be deprived of riding into Paris with teammate Floyd Landis after the South African was eliminated following the 19th stage of the Tour de France Saturday.

Hunter's deficit to Ukrainian Sergei Gontchar (T-Mobile) over the penultimate stage 57km time trial was 18 minutes and nine seconds. It meant the South African officially finished the stage outside the permitted time limit. Permitted deficits on Tour de France time trials are based on the best time of the stage multiplied by 25 percent.

Gontchar claimed his second stage win of the race in a time of 1:07:45. The Ukrainian also won the first time trial, run over 52km on stage 7.