KARLSRUHE, Germany (Reuters) -- German Jens Voigt was cheered on by his home fans as he clinched overall victory at the Tour of Germany on Wednesday.

The CSC rider finished safely in the main pack in the race's 172km final stage, won by Australian Graeme Brown in a bunch sprint, from Bad Krozingen to Karlsruhe.

"It's been a hard race, with a lot of rain and cold, but I was ready for it." Voigt said after winning the race in a total time of 32 hours 11 minutes and 10 seconds.

"I didn't spend more than one day off with my family between the Tour de France and the Tour of Germany and didn't ease up. "Today (Wednesday) was a flat stage, not too hard, and I could enjoy wearing my jersey in front of my home fans."

American Levi Leipheimer trailed the German by 98 seconds to finish second overall, with Andrey Kashechkin of Kazakhstan third.

In the final bunch sprint, Brown sped ahead of German Erik Zabel and Italian Danilo Napolitano for his second stage win in five days.

"The first few days were a bit disappointing because I was looking for a result and didn't get it," Brown said. "But I'm going home now with two stage wins, so I'm more than satisfied."

Voigt's triumph, his 52nd in an eight-year career, was his first in a weeklong stage.

Two years after securing second place behind compatriot Patrik Sinkewitz, Voigt climbed to the top of the podium thanks to a hat-trick of stage wins.

Moving into the lead on Sunday, the German increased his overall lead by taking the toughest mountain stage at St. Anton am Arlberg in Austria 24 hours later.

A stunning victory on Tuesday's long, flat time trial at Bad Sackingen enabled him to fend off Leipheimer.

After celebrating his win, Voigt turned his thoughts to the doping problems which have overshadowed the sport recently.

"I know how I win, it's by hard work, not by cheating." Voigt said. "But we need more controls and more testing to make sure this sport is as free of drugs problems as possible."