Klöden back in Bavaria

After creating the decisive break then soloing home to claim the fifth and final stage of the Bayern Rundfahrt, Andreas Klöden's victory bore particular significance, in that it was the T-Mobile rider's first win for 2005.

"I wanted to try something on one of the stages and I am delighted that I could pull it off," said Klöden on t-mobile-team.com, who only returned to racing just this week. "Now I feel that I am back on the right track and my form will be right for the Tour [de France]."

Added team-mate Bernhard Kohl: "It went brilliantly for us out there. Klödi was in such good form today that he was able to win this one all on his own."

Alexandre Vinokourov was also very active throughout the stage, but could not unseat race leader Michael Rich (Gerolsteiner), who ultimately claimed overall race honours. "On the last climb, we attacked three times for Vino, but Gerolsteiner were always there in numbers," said Kohl.

Vinokourov finished the race second on general classification, 20 seconds behind Rich.