NEUSS, Germany: Finland's Jussi Veikkanen won the sixth stage of the Tour of Germany on Thursday after winning the sprint finish on the 188.8-kilometre route from Bad Fredeburg to Neuss.

Leader Linus Gerdemann of Germany keeps the yellow jersey after finishing in the peloton, but Veikkanen held off a strong challenge from Kazakhstan's Maxim Iglinski to win the stage.

The 27-year-old from Finland won the sprint having been part of an 11-strong group which formed up 50 kilometres into the race and finished with a lead of more than a minute over the peloton at the finish.

Having won the first stage, Gerdemann has a 17 seconds lead over his Team Columbia team-mate Thomas Loevkvist and 20 seconds over third-placed Janez Brajkovic from Slovenia.

The Tour of Germany concludes on Saturday in Bremen. - AFP/de