Judges overturn Paolini's win in Regio Tour

By Bjorn Haake

The Rothaus Regio-Tour saw a switch in the results on stage three after Italian Luca Paolini crossed the line first ahead of Robert Retschke (Mapei Heizomat), but was then relegated to second for moving off his line in the final 200 metres.

The duo was sprinting for the victory in Wehr when Paolini moved over and almost forced Retschke into the barriers. It didn't take the judges long to come up with the ruling, giving Retschke a big win for the small German team.

Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez led a group of 22 riders home a couple of seconds behind Retschke and Paolini. Retschke agreed with the judge's decision. "I actually touched the barriers. I can be happy that I didn't crash. I needed to stop pedaling and hit my brakes, so I think I definitely was impeded."

Being awarded the stage win quickly brightened the German's mood. "The first two stages I didn't have the form I wanted to be in. I was hoping to be better with regards to the overall. But now with the stage victory, I redeemed myself a bit."

Manuel Vazquez Hueso (Contentpolis - Murcia) leads the overall classification ahead of Chavez by one second going into Saturday's penultimate stage, a 14.2 kilometre time trial.