Voigt victorious in Ascó

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Jens Voigt (Saxo Bank) won the Volta Catalunya's fourth stage today, outsprinting breakaway companion Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) in Ascó.

Milram's Paul Voß, winner of stage one, took the field sprint for third place 34 seconds later ahead of Michel Kreder (Garmin-Transitions) and David Loosli (Lampre).

"I am very happy about this win and I think it's the perfect answer to our bad luck yesterday where Fränk [Schleck] was stopped by a crash," said Voigt. "I knew that Taaramäe wanted to get to the finish line as fast as possible to gain time in the overall standings to get on the podium so he was really digging deep to keep up the pace. On the finish line, I could easily go past him."

"It was another tough stage with rocket speed," said Team Saxo Bank directeur sportif Kim Andersen. "The first hundred kilometers were done in less than two hours and the average speed on the finish line was no less than astonishing 45 km/h. Actually, Jens was dropped early on the stage but made it back to the group and right away he said to me that he wanted to go. And so he did - with big success."

Overnight race leader Joaquin Rodriguez (Team Katusha) remains atop general classification and holds a 10-second advantage over Xavier Tondo (Cervelo Test Team). Following his successful escape, Taaramae jumped from seventh to third overall and trails Rodriguez by 46 seconds.

Alt de Paumeres proves decisive

The 38-year-old German's winning move occurred on the peloton's second ascent of the Category 2 Alt de Paumeres, with its summit coming 20.8km from the finish. Voigt bridged solo from the field to a four-man breakaway containing Vladimir Efimkin (AG2R La Mondiale), Thibaut Pinot (Française Des Jeux), Francesco Bellotti (Liquigas-Doimo) and Jurgen Van De Walle (Quick Step) on the slopes of the Alt de Paumeres. The quartet were the remnants of an eight-man break which escaped the peloton 55km into the stage.

Voigt set a furious pace on the climb and dropped his breakaway companions one-by-one, with Efimkin the last to succumb. The German crossed the summit alone and was joined on the descent by Taaramae and Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas-Doimo), who crested the summit second and third respectively.

With 15km remaining the leading trio held a 15-second advantage over the field, with race leader Joaquin Rodriguez's Katusha squad prominent at the head of the 60-rider strong peloton.

Voigt and Taaramae dropped Kreuziger three kilometres later and despite being a man down the duo managed to increase their lead to 20 seconds over their pursuers.

Kreuziger was swept up by the field with 10 kilometres to go, but the peloton continued to lose ground to the leading duo as Taaramae forced the pace, trying to eke out every second he could on his general classification rivals.

At the finish in Ascó the cagey Voigt dispatched Taaramae in the sprint for the German's first victory of the season.