Voss stuns all, hands Milram the win

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Milram's Paul Voß got an early birthday present in the form of a stunning stage 1 victory in the Volta a Catalunya today. The soon to be 24-year-old eclipsed RadioShack's Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Klöden to claim his first ProTour win in the time trial and take the overall lead in the Spanish race.

"When I heard that I had won, I was totally surprised and overwhelmed," said Voß. "That's how it is when you win the first ProTour race of your career. I think I won't really realize it until I am at the start tomorrow wearing the leader's jersey. I actually didn't feel that great during the race, so the win is that much more of a surprise."

Milram placed another young rider in the top five, with 20-year-old Dominik Nerz edging out Omega Pharma-Lotto's Jan Bakelants for fourth place.

Vittorio Algeri, Milram's director was thrilled. "A fantastic result for us today, Paul Voß and Dominik Nerz gave us a really huge surprise. Despite the rain and difficult conditions, they both went all out. This is a great day for Team Milram."

"A huge compliment to both of them. I really had not seen this coming," said team manager Gerry van Gerwen. "That was a super performance from the two and is great for the morale of the whole team in Catalunya."

Voß joined Milram in 2009 and rode the Vuelta a Espana in his first ProTour year. A cyclo-cross specialist, he rode at the top of the U-23 rankings in the 2008/2009 season, but is now concentrating on the road.