Voss leads all at Volta a Catalunya

Reposted from CyclingNews.com

Milram's Paul Voß got an early birthday present in the form of a stunning stage 1 victory in the Volta a Catalunya today. The soon to be 24-year-old eclipsed RadioShack's Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Klöden to claim his first ProTour win in the time trial and take the overall lead in the Spanish race.

"When I heard that I had won, I was totally surprised and overwhelmed," said Voß. "That's how it is when you win the first ProTour race of your career. I think I won't really realize it until I am at the start tomorrow wearing the leader's jersey. I actually didn't feel that great during the race, so the win is that much more of a surprise."

Milram placed another young rider in the top five, with 20-year-old Dominik Nerz edging out Omega Pharma-Lotto's Jan Bakelants for fourth place.

Vittorio Algeri, Milram's director was thrilled. "A fantastic result for us today, Paul Voß and Dominik Nerz gave us a really huge surprise. Despite the rain and difficult conditions, they both went all out. This is a great day for Team Milram."

"A huge compliment to both of them. I really had not seen this coming," said team manager Gerry van Gerwen. "That was a super performance from the two and is great for the morale of the whole team in Catalunya."

Voß joined Milram in 2009 and rode the Vuelta a Espana in his first ProTour year. A cyclo-cross specialist, he rode at the top of the U-23 rankings in the 2008/2009 season, but is now concentrating on the road.

Full Results

1	Paul Voss (Ger) Team Milram	0:04:47
2	Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team Radioshack	0:00:01
3	Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team Radioshack	0:00:02
4	Dominik Nerz (Ger) Team Milram	0:00:04
5	Jan Bakelandts (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
6	Davide Malacarne (Ita) Quick Step
7	Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team HTC - Columbia
8	Craig Lewis (USA) Team HTC - Columbia	0:00:05
9	Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale	0:00:06
10	Kristijan Koren (Slo) Liquigas-Doimo
11	Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
12	Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin - Transitions
13	Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha
14	Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis, le Credit en Ligne
15	Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis, le Credit en Ligne	0:00:07
16	Mauricio Ardila (Col) Rabobank
17	Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas-Doimo	0:00:08
18	Nicolas Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
19	Rémi Cusin (Fra) Cofidis, le Credit en Ligne
20	Aitor Galdos (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
21	Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
22	Stefan Denifl (Aut) Cervelo Test Team
23	Martin Velits (Svk) Team HTC - Columbia	0:00:09
24	José Ivan Gutierrez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
25	Aleksej Saramontins (Lat) Team HTC - Columbia	0:00:10
26	Michel Kreder (Ned) Garmin - Transitions
27	Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Astana
28	Dmitry Kozontchuk (Rus) Rabobank
29	Bjorn Selander (USA) Team Radioshack
30	Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Team Radioshack	0:00:11
31	Dario Cataldo (Ita) Quick Step
32	Alberto Losada (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne	0:00:12
33	Rémy Di Gregorio (Fra) Française Des Jeux
34	Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) Team Radioshack	0:00:13
35	Josep Jufre (Spa) Astana
36	Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
37	Chris Froome (RSA) Sky Professional Cycling Team
38	Juan José Haedo (Arg) Team Saxo Bank
39	Imanol Erviti (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
40	Jaroslaw Marycz (Pol) Team Saxo Bank
41	Robert Forster (Ger) Team Milram
42	Igor Anton (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
43	Steven Cozza (USA) Garmin - Transitions	0:00:14
44	Thomas Peterson (USA) Garmin - Transitions
45	Daryl Impey (RSA) Team Radioshack
46	Joan Horrach (Spa) Team Katusha
47	Pavel Brutt (Rus) Team Katusha
48	Sandy Casar (Fra) Française Des Jeux	0:00:15
49	Oscar Pujol (Spa) Cervelo Test Team