Cunego takes Tour of Germany win

SONTHOFEN, Germany -- Italian star Damiano Cunego claimed his first victory in the Tour of Germany as he outsprinted a small breakaway group to win the fourth stage into the foothills of The Alps.

The 25-year-old Lampre rider proved stronger than Gerolsteiner's David Rebellin and Spaniard David Lopez Garcia of Caisse d'Epargne at the finish of the 183.8km route between Singen and Sonthofen, which had two climbs.

Defending champion Jens Voigt of the CSC team finished in a 25-strong group five seconds behind the leading trio to retain the race leader's yellow jersey.

It was a fine performance from the German who was without two key team-mates Swiss cyclist Fabian Cancellara and Luxemburg's Andy Schleck, due to illness.

"That was harder than expected," said Voigts. "In the end, I gave everything I had and had to really put the work in to stay in contention."

There were two heavy falls on the twisting route with Colombian Rigoberto Uran (Unibet) crashing off the road and into a stream where he hurt his shoulder while Austrian Gerrit Glomser (Volksbank) also took a tumble.

On Wednesday, the tour moves into the German Alps with the fifth stage of 157.6km rising to a height of 2650m with former Giro d'Italia winner Cunego eyeing a further win. E-mail to a friend