Petacchi wins in Germany

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Cadel Evans (BMC) showed off his Tour de France winner’s yellow jersey in Germany at the weekend, riding the high-speed Sparkassen Derny race in Bochum.

The Australian seemed amused to race against 20 or so fellow riders tucked in behind the Derny as they completed laps of a city centre circuit.

Evans finished second behind veteran Italian sprinter Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD) after the two got away in the finale of the race. They finished six second clear of local hero Robert Wagner (Leopard Trek) but Petacchi used his faster finish to steal the limelight and the top spot on the podium after 80 minutes of racing.

Petacchi lost his rear brake during the race but such was the high speed that he did not need it and was happy to laugh about the incident with teammate Danilo Hondo after the finish.

The Bochum criterium was the latest post-Tour de France race for Evans. He stopped Philippe Gilbert’s winning streak in Sint-Niklaas on Friday and will ride in another criterium in Amsterdam on Tuesday.

Evans and his BMC team have confirmed that the USA Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado (August 22-28) will be his last race of the 2011 season. He will not ride this year’s world championships in Copenhagen on September 25.