Australian rider Cadel Evans (Davitamon-Lotto) won the 177.7-kilometer seventh stage of the Tour of Germany from Singen to Feldberg on Sunday.

Gerolsteiner's Levi Leipheimer, sixth in this year's Tour de France, retains the yellow jersey after the American finished fourth in Sunday's stage. In rain-soaked conditions Evans, eighth in this year's Tour de France, finished nine seconds ahead of Swiss rider Fabian Jeker and German Jorg Jaschke who recorded the same time.

The Gerolsteiner rider has a 33 second lead over Austrian team-mate Georg Totschnig with Evans 48 seconds adrift.

German Jan Ullrich claimed this stage - which finished with two tough Category 1 climbs - favored his talents but the T-Mobile captain slipped in the overall standings by finishing 42 seconds behind Evans and is now one minute and 26 seconds behind Leipheimer with just two stages to go.

Ullrich said this stage suited his talents... only they suited Evans' even more.

Photo: Tour of Germany

The tight race for the overall standings is expected to be settled in Monday's penultimate stage, a flat 30km time trial from Ludwigshafen to Weinheim.

Results, stage 7
1. Cadel Evans, Davitamon-Lotto, 04:56:10
2. Fabian Jeker, Saunier Duval, at 00:11
3. Jörg Jaksche, Liberty Seguros
4. Levi Leipheimer, Gerolsteiner, at 00:14
5. Alberto Contador Velasco, Liberty Seguros, at 00:26
6. Marzio Bruseghin, Fassa Bortolo
7. Georg Totschnig, Gerolsteiner, at 00:29
8. Bobby Julich, CSC
9. Pieter Weening, Rabobank, at 00:33
10. Wim Van Huffel, Davitamon-Lotto, at 00:35
FullResults

Overall, after 7 stages
1. Levi Leipheimer, Gerolsteiner, 32:53:37
2. Georg Totschnig, Gerolsteiner, at 00:33
3. Cadel Evans, Davitamon-Lotto, at 00:58
4. Jörg Jaksche, Liberty Seguros, at 01:21
5. Jan Ullrich, T-Mobile, at 01:26
6. Tadej Valjavec, Phonak, at 02:42
7. Fabian Jeker, Saunier Duval, at 03:07
8. Saul Raisin, Credit Agricole, at 03:47
9. Wim Van Huffel, Davitamon-Lotto, at 04:19
10. Marzio Bruseghin, Fassa Bortolo, at 04:50
FullResults