OFFENBURG (Germany), Aug 12: World championship silver medallist Erik Zabel won the third stage on the Tour of Germany here on Sunday while defending champion Jens Voigt retained the yellow jersey.

Milram captain Zabel, 37, was quickest over the 181.8km course between Pforzheim through the stunning Black Forest to Offenburg to claim the 13th tour win of his career.

Zabel sealed the victory in a tight sprint to the finish line, winning in a time of 4 hours 49 mins 25 seconds to finish just ahead of Spaniard Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil and Australian Bradley McGee.

Having won silver at last year's Road World Championships in Salzburg, this has been a difficult year for Zabel after he confessed in May to having taken banned blood-booster erythropoietin (EPO) while cycling for Deutsche Telekom during the 1990s.

Having claimed the yellow jersey after Saturday's team time trial in Bretten, defending champion and CSC rider Voigt holds onto the leader's jersey for Monday's fourth stage, which starts the climb into the German Alps.—AFP