Zabel had been hotly tipped to outdo his rivals in the final sprint but pulled away some way clear of the finish for a winning margin of more than two minutes.

In France Rous, the 2001 champion, won by 33 seconds from Richard Virenque with Patrice Halgand in third, 58 seconds behind.

Rous broke away on his own 80km from the finish of the 222.4km race and hung on for victory.

He dedicated his victory to his team-mate Fabrice Salanson, who died earlier this month of heart failure.

"I did it for Fabrice. I was burnt out but I resisted for him," said Rous, who pointed to the sky as he crossed the line.

Cooke wins British title

The Italian title was won by Paolo Bettini, who proved his Tour de France credentials by outsprinting his national rivals.

He was led out by Quick Step team-mate Luca Paolini in Pesaro to get the nod comfortably.

Ruben Plaza, who rides for ibanesto.com, won the Spanish national road race crown ahead of Rafael Casero (Paternina) and Benjamin Noval (Relax).

Holland's national road race title was won by Rudi Kemna, who rides for the Bankgiroloterij team.

Kemna beat Stefan Van Dijk, US Postal rider Max Van Heeswik, and Jeroen Blijlevens.

In Belgium, Geert Omloop won the national championship, narrowly beating Jurgen van Goolen in the closing sprint.

Omloop, riding for the Palmans-Collstrup team, covered the 248-km course around Vilvoorde, just south of Brussels, in five hours, 44 minutes and 11 seconds.

Quick Step-Davitamon's Van Goolen was second, with his team- mate Sven Vanthourenhout third.

"I've been able to make my dream come true," said Omloop. "It's incredible."

"I felt strong enough and I knew I could beat Van Goolen in the sprint. I think it was finished for him in the sprint."

Landbowkrediet's Tom Steels, last year's winner and the favourite this time, finished 15th.

Alexandre Bajenov became Russian national champion with the narrowest of victories over Dmitri Dementiev and Oleg Joukov.