MILRAM Youngster Dominik Nerz rounds out strong performance by German ProTour team with fourth place
Dortmund, 22. March 2010. Paul Voß gave Team MILRAM the perfect start in the Vuelta a Catalunya (March 22-28 / UCI ProTour) with his surprising victory in the opening time trial. The 23-year-old upset the world’s top cyclists on the 3.6 kilometer long prologue through Lloret de Mar and also took over the lead in the general ranking. He needed 4:57 minutes for the course through the Spanish vacation town, beating Levi Leipheimer (4:58/RadioShack) and Andreas Klöden (4:59/RadioShack) by a narrow margin. MILRAM newcomer Dominik Nerz completed the German ProTour team’s upset with fourth place.

“When I heard that I had won, I was totally surprised and overwhelmed. That’s how it is when you win the first ProTour race of your career,“ described Paul Voß the seconds after the race. “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.“

“A fantastic result for us today,“ said a happy Vittorio Algeri, Directeur Sportif for Team MILRAM. “Paul Vos 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 reckoned with this,“ said a surprised but happy MILRAM 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.“

1. Paul Voss (GER/Milram), les 3,6 km en 4:57.
(moyenne: 43,6 km/h)
2. Levi Leipheimer (USA/RadioShack) à 01.
3. Andreas Klöden (GER/RadioShack) 02.
4. Dominik Nerz (GER/Milram) 04.
5. Jan Bakelants (BEL/Lotto) m.t.
6. Davide Malacarne (ITA/Quick Step) m.t.
7. Mark Cavendish (GBR/Columbia) m.t.
8. Craig Lewis (USA/Columbia) 05.
9. Nicolas Roche (IRL/AG2R) 06.
10. Kristijan Koren (SLO/Liquigas) m.t.