Belgium's Tom Steels (Mapei) narrowly beat World Cup holder Erik Zabel in yesterday's first stage of the Tour of Germany, a 210.4km stretch from Hamburg to Hanover on May 29.

Steels, who has won nine stages of the Tour de France, said his win over the leader of the powerful Telekom team gave him a boost ahead of this year's Tour de France. "It was a great battle between me and Erik and I'm still breathing hard," said the 29-year-old. "It's good to have beaten him again and that encourages me for the Tour de France."

The second stage is a 173km run from Goslar to Erfurt on Wednesday.

Copyright AFP 2001