Germany's Jens Voigt (CSC) sealed the biggest win of his career in front of his home fans at the Tour of Germany on Wednesday.
Known as a naturally aggressive rider and a specialist of long breaks and powerful attacks, Voigt had never won an important stage race during his ten-year career and had not won a stage in the Tour of Germany before this year.
However, the 34-year-old Berliner made up for lost time this year with a hat trick of stage victories, including the hardest day in the mountains from Seefeld to St. Anton Am Arlberg and the decisive time trial around Bad Sackingen.
Australia?s Graeme Brown (Rabobank) won the final stage to Karlsruhe on Wednesday but Voigt finished safely in the bunch to seal his big win.
The USA?s Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner) was second at 1-38 and Andrey Kashechkin (Astana) was third at 2-23. Britain?s Charly Wegelius (Liquigas) finished 50th overall at 18-58.
"It has of course been a fantastic race for me, where everything has worked out brilliantly,? Voigt said.
"I was aiming for something like the top-five or maybe just the top-ten, but it's definitely been a nice surprise that I was able to go this fast. It's more fun than when you expect a lot without being able to deliver. I would also like to give credit to the team, because I think they have done some fantastic work. We've had a good mix of riders, some who are good on flat stretches and some who are good in the mountains.?
?I finished Tour de France in great shape, and in the period between then and here I did some criteriums to keep me going. I've really just made sure I kept focus on this particular race, because I badly wanted to do well in front of my home crowd. It's always fun to win a race in Germany and especially a big one like this.?
The Tour of Germany was Voigt?s 52nd win of his career. He celebrated his 50th win with his second of three stages during the German race.
The ProTour circuit now moves to northern Spain for the Clasica San Sebastian on Saturday before the weeklong Tour of Benelux starts next Wednesday.
