PARIS, Aug 21: Australian Cadel Evans won the 177-km seventh stage of the Tour of Germany, the second mountaintop finish in the nine-day race, after an exciting battle over the final climb on Sunday.

Swiss Fabian Jeker (Saunier Duval-Prodir) finished second behind the 28-year-old Davitamon Lotto rider after the route from Singen to the Feldberg summit, with German Jorg Jaksche (Liberty Seguros) taking third place.

Spaniard Alberto Contador (Liberty Seguros) had led by more than a minute going into the final climb but was overtaken by the chasing pack over the last two kilometres in cold, driving rain before ending up in fifth.

American Levi Leipheimer retained the overall lead after finishing fourth on Sunday, 14 seconds behind the winner.

However, German T-Mobile rider Jan Ullrich lost another 30 seconds and now lies fifth, 1:26 behind Leipheimer.

Leipheimer’s Austrian team mate Georg Totschnig is 33 seconds adrift in second place, with Evans third and Jaksche fourth.

Monday’s 31.1-km time trial on a flat course is likely to determine the overall winner of the nine-day Pro Tour event before the final stage to Bonn on Tuesday.—Reuters