By Susan Westemeyer Stephane Auge (Cofidis) won the sprint on the seventh stage of the Deutschland...
Happy as: Stéphane Augé (Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone) (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
By Susan Westemeyer
Stephane Auge (Cofidis) won the sprint on the seventh stage of the Deutschland Tour, as another escape group was successful. The victory is Auge's second Deutschland Tour win, having won the sixth stage in 2002. Auge beat Thierry Hupond (Skil-Shimano) and Mauro da Dalto (Liquigas) as the 11-rider group came in nearly four minutes ahead of the main field. There was no change in the overall, with Columbia's Linus Gerdemann holding on to his lead over team-mate Thomas Lövkvist.
“I am totally happy,” the 33 year-old said. “Our team has worked hard the whole week, but never got any results. Because I can sprint well, I simply had to wait until the finale. The other attacked early and I only needed to sit on their wheels.”
One of those in the escape group who attacked early in the finale was Jens Voigt (CSC-Saxo Bank), who opened the sprint but ended up sixth. “I wanted to show that I am not here to take consolotation prizes. But you can tell, I am only at 70 or 80 percent,” he said.
It took a while for a group to get away today, but by kilometre 34, a group of 11 riders finally was successful: Jens Voigt (CSC), Koos Moerenhout (Rabobank), Thomas Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom), Jorge Azanza Soto (Euskaltel), Thierry Hupond (Skil-Shimano), Angel Gomez Gomez (Scott - American Beef), Christian Knees (Milram), Simon Spilak (Lampre), Johannes Fröhlinger (Gerolsteiner), Mauro Da Dalto (Liquigas) and Stéphane Augé (Cofidis).
