Spilak wins Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn-Frankfurt

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Fresh off his stage win and second place finish overall in the Tour de Romandie, Katusha's Simon Spilak was able to use his cunning and sparkling form to sprint to victory in the Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn-Frankfurt over defending champion Moreno Moser (Cannondale), with Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) taking third from the peloton.

It was the third win of the year for the 28-year-old Slovenian, who also won the GP Miguel Indurain in March. Spilak said that taking part in the German race wasn't even on his original calendar, "but in the end we decided to take advantage of my shape: it turned out to be the best choice".

Spilak and Moser were part of a three-man breakaway that pushed clear on the final ascent of the Mammolshainer, a climb that kicks up to a vicious 26% grade. They were accompanied by Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R La Mondiale), but the diminutive Italian was unable to keep the sprinting pace of Spilak and Moser as they narrowly escaped the peloton's grasp in the final meters of the race.

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"It was a very hard race, but my teammates worked very well in order to keep the race under control: and in the last climb, when Pozzovivo and Moser attacked, I decided to follow them. Then, we cooperated very well, and we were able to anticipate the chase by a whisker."

The 200.9km race kicked off with a breakaway of Marcel Sieberg (Lotto Belisol), Paul Voß (NetApp-Endura), Michael Morkov (Saxo-Tinkoff), Sébastien Reichenbach (IAM), Jan-Nicklas Droste (Heizomat), Tim Gebauer (Stölting), Georg Preidler (Argos-Shimano) and Michael Schweizer and Sven Forberger (NSP-Ghost) gaining around four minutes on the peloton.

The Mammolshainer proved to be too much and by the third trip the breakaway was near, and an attack from Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) caught up with Morkov and Preidler, the two remaining escapees, but the field quickly closed down the move.

On the final lap, it was time for the climbers to make their move, and Pozzovivo initiated the decisive attack, joined by Spilak and Moser. The trio worked together to maintain a slim advantage on the peloton, which was bearing down with impressive speed.

Spilak kept his nerve, waiting for Moser to start the sprint even as the threat of being caught grew - his patience paid off, and Moser jumped just far enough out that the Katusha man was able to come around and take the win on the line.