# Thomas Voeckler

Thomas Voeckler (French pronunciation:; born 22 June 1979) is a French former road racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 2001 and 2017, for the Direct Énergie team and its previous iterations.
One of the most prominent French riders of his generation, Voeckler has been described as a "national hero", due to strong performances over several years in the Tour de France.

## Early life

Born in Schiltigheim, Bas-Rhin, Voeckler has been a professional cyclist since 2001. He comes from the Alsace region of France but later moved to Martinique, where he was nicknamed "Ti-Blanc" (a contraction of petit blanc, the literal translation of which is "little white") due to his small stature and pale complexion.

## Career
### Early years

In 2003, Voeckler won two stages and the overall title in the Tour de Luxembourg. The following year, he suddenly rose to international prominence in the world of cycling. After seizing the French National Road Race Championships, the lightly regarded Voeckler entered the 2004 Tour de France. After escaping with five other riders during the fifth stage, Voeckler gained significant time against the peloton, and earned the yellow jersey (French: maillot jaune). Remarkably, he defended his jersey for ten days, even on stages not well-suited to his strengths.
With the maillot jaune on his shoulders and intense media attention all around him, Voeckler only rode stronger. He survived the dreaded climbs of the Pyrenees seconds ahead of Lance Armstrong. Voeckler finally surrendered the jersey to Armstrong on stage 15 in the French Alps. Voeckler then also lost the white jersey (French: maillot blanc; held by the best rider under 25) to Vladimir Karpets. But by then Voeckler was already a national hero.
The 2005 season was busy as Voeckler rode many races, including some not considered a fit for his style of riding. His only win that year came in Stage 3 of the Four Days of Dunkirk. In 2006 he won the fifth stage in the Tour of the Basque Country. At the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, Voeckler finished second on Stage 1, and he also won Paris–Bourges.
In 2007, Voeckler garnered a stunning win at the GP Ouest-France, in which he beat the favorites with a late breakaway. For 2008, his early season was highlighted with an overall win at the Circuit de la Sarthe and in 2009, he gained his first stage win at the Tour de France, winning stage 5. Voeckler went for victory with about 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) to go, having been part of a breakaway group for most of the race.

### 2010

After a somewhat slow start to 2010, Voeckler went on to win the French National Road Race Championships for the second time. He was able to break away from the bunch along with Christophe Le Mével, and Voeckler bested Le Mével in the sprint. He later described this win in the Vendée department, where he had made his home, as the best moment of his career. His form then continued into the Tour de France where, after several unsuccessful attacks, he was first over the finish line during Stage 15. He launched himself before the summit of the Hors Catégorie Port de Balès, cresting the summit alone. He negotiated the very fast descent without incident, and crossed the line in Bagnères-de-Luchon with more than a minute over the chasers.
In September, Voeckler took the victory in the inaugural running of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec, a new event on the UCI World Tour calendar. He downplayed his chances in the press in the days before the event citing a lack of form. However, he attacked in the final kilometre to cross the finish line on the Grande-Allée with a couple of bike lengths over Team Sky's Edvald Boasson Hagen.

### 2011

In 2011, Voeckler enjoyed his finest year as a professional. He recorded eight spring victories prior to the Tour de France in July, notably taking two stages at Paris–Nice, and winning the overall classification in the Four Days of Dunkirk as well as the Tour du Haut Var.
In the ninth stage of the Tour de France, Voeckler led a breakaway, survived a collision caused by a media support car that injured two other riders, and crossed the line second, taking the overall time lead and therefore wearing the yellow jersey (French: maillot jaune). He held on to the yellow jersey daily from the beginning of Stage 10 onwards, carrying it through all the Pyrenean mountain stages and into the Alps, but he was unable to retain it at the end of Stage 19, the queen stage finishing at Alpe d'Huez. Voeckler finished in fourth place in the final general classification, 3 minutes and 20 seconds behind the winner, Cadel Evans. It was Voeckler's highest final general classification in the Tour, and the highest placing of any Frenchman in the Tour, at the time, since Christophe Moreau's fourth-place overall finish in 2000.
Voeckler's 2011 contract from Team Europcar was worth €420,000 a year, which made him the second highest-paid French cyclist after Sylvain Chavanel. His planned switch to Cofidis was worth almost twice as much, however Voeckler chose to remain at reduced salary with Jean-René Bernaudeau's team, once it re-found sponsorship for 2011, able to continue his 15-year relationship with the coach.

### 2012

In 2012, Voeckler followed his previous year's successes with another season of victories and top placements, including a new-found focus in the Spring Classics.
His spring campaign did not achieve strong results until April, where he attained a top-ten finish in the Tour of Flanders, the second classic monument on the 2012 calendar; his first victory of the season came ten days later, during a 30-kilometre (19 mi) solo breakaway in the semi-classic Brabantse Pijl, which he won in cold, rainy conditions. The following Sunday he took a top-five placement in the classic Amstel Gold Race, and a week later continued his success in the Ardennes with a fourth-place in the final spring classic of the season, the monument Liège–Bastogne–Liège. Along with other Europcar riders, Voeckler managed to win a stage in the Gabonese La Tropicale Amissa Bongo race, at the close of April.
He started the Tour de France slowly, suffering from a knee injury and almost abandoning the grand tour, after also abandoning earlier preparation races. However he gathered strength and later won stage 10, the first mountain stage of the race, including crossing the hors catégorie climb of the Col du Grand Colombier in the lead, thus claiming the polka-dot jersey for the mountains classification lead, which he held for a day. He also prevailed in the queen stage of the race, stage 16 from Pau to Bagnères-de-Luchon, which included four huge climbs including the Col du Tourmalet. Voeckler broke away from the peloton about 25 kilometres (16 miles) into the race and was part of a massive 38-man escape bunch. He passed all four King of the Mountains points locations in the lead, and grabbed the polka-dot jersey once again as well as the victory, dropping his last breakaway companion Brice Feillu of the Saur–Sojasun squad while ascending the Col de Peyresourde, the stage's final difficulty. He then charged down the mountain to reach the finish line with a minute and 40 seconds on the nearest chaser. Voeckler subsequently won a classification podium spot in Paris for the first time in his career, by holding the tour's mountain classification jersey from the Pyrenees to the finish.

### 2013

Voeckler started the Classics season with a good showing in Dwars door Vlaanderen. He escaped the lead group of riders on the last climb with 6 kilometres (3.7 miles) to race and made a solo bid for the line, but was caught inside the final meters, only to take fifth. Voeckler was clearly heartbroken after such a close call. In the Ardennes Classic Amstel Gold Race, Voeckler crashed with other favorites, was put on a stretcher and went to the hospital where a broken collarbone was detected. By June Voeckler had rebounded and shown strong form once more, winning stage 6 of the Critérium du Dauphiné from a breakaway of four despite being outnumbered by two Astana riders. Voeckler continued his winning form by winning the overall titles of the Route du Sud and the Tour du Poitou-Charentes.

### 2014

In January, Voeckler was set to participate to the Tour Down Under, but he crashed into a car while training in Australia and broke his collarbone. He came back to competition at the Tour Méditerranéen, then went on to finish 25th in the Amstel Gold Race and 36th in Liège–Bastogne–Liège. He then participated to the Tour de Romandie in April, attacking to no avail in the final of the first stage. On the fourth stage, he took second place after being beaten for the sprint by his breakaway companion Michael Albasini (Orica–GreenEDGE). Voeckler finished 21st overall. Voeckler had a significant result in the Tour de France, finishing second on the stage to Bagnères-de-Luchon behind Michael Rogers. In August, while he was training, Voeckler hit a car and was injured again, this time dislocating his shoulder. He came back at the Tour du Doubs, finishing 46th. In October, Voeckler finished second of Paris–Tours, after being part of the early breakaway. He cooperated well with his breakaway companion Jelle Wallays until the "last kilometer to go" sign, where Wallays refused to pull and Voeckler was beaten in the two-man sprint. He was so disappointed that he did not go to the podium ceremony, which resulted in a fine and the loss of the €3,770 second-place prize.

### 2015

Voeckler's 2015 season was relatively quiet, with a fifth place on a stage of the Tour de France and third in the general classification of the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire being two of his most notable results.

### 2016

In February, Voeckler took his first wins since August 2013 when he won the first stage and the general classification at the first edition of the Tour La Provence. In early May Voeckler took the punishing final stage of the Tour de Yorkshire, outsprinting Nicolas Roche in Scarborough and taking the overall classification.
In September 2016, Voeckler announced that he would retire from professional cycling, after the 2017 Tour de France, his fifteenth successive participation in the race.

## Post-racing career

In 2019, Voeckler was appointed the manager of the French national team, replacing Cyrille Guimard.

## Major results

Source:

### 1999

    4th Paris–Roubaix Espoirs

### 2000

    1st Flèche Ardennaise
    1st Stage 1 Ruban Granitier Breton
    2nd Paris–Roubaix Espoirs

### 2002

    8th Tour du Doubs
    9th Grand Prix de la Ville de Lillers

### 2003 (3 pro wins)

    1st Overall Tour de Luxembourg
       1st Stages 1 & 3
    1st Classic Loire Atlantique
    1st Stage 8 Tour de l'Avenir
    2nd Overall Tour de la Somme
    3rd Grand Prix de Denain
    7th Overall Tour Méditerranéen

### 2004 (4)

    1st Road race, National Road Championships
    1st Grand Prix de Plumelec-Morbihan
    1st Stage 4 Route du Sud
    2nd Clásica de Almería
    5th Classique des Alpes
    6th Tro-Bro Léon
    7th Tour de Vendée
    10th LuK Challenge Chrono (with Christophe Kern)
    Tour de France
       Held after Stages 5–14
       Held after Stages 5–18

### 2005 (1)

    1st Stage 3 Four Days of Dunkirk
    4th Grand Prix de Villers-Cotterêts
    6th Classic Haribo
    Tour de France
       Held after Stage 2

### 2006 (4)

    1st Overall Route du Sud
       1st Stage 1
    1st Paris–Bourges
    1st Stage 5 Tour of the Basque Country
    2nd Road race, National Road Championships
    3rd Overall Étoile de Bessèges
    8th Overall Paris–Corrèze
    10th Chrono des Nations

### 2007 (2)

    1st Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes
    1st GP Ouest-France
    1st Mountains classification, Paris–Nice
    6th Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
    8th Chrono des Nations
    10th Overall Tour de Pologne

### 2008 (2)

    1st Overall Circuit de la Sarthe
    1st Grand Prix de Plumelec-Morbihan
    4th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
    6th Japan Cup
    7th Grand Prix d'Isbergues
    7th Paris–Bourges
    10th Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes
    Tour de France
       Held after Stages 1–5

### 2009 (5)

    1st Overall Tour du Haut Var
       1st Stage 2
    1st Overall Étoile de Bessèges
    1st Trophée des Grimpeurs
    1st Stage 5 Tour de France
    2nd Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise
    3rd Tour de Vendée
    5th Overall Tour du Limousin
    10th Chrono des Nations

### 2010 (3)

    1st Road race, National Road Championships
    1st Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec
    1st Stage 15 Tour de France
    3rd Overall Giro di Sardegna
    6th Brabantse Pijl
    10th Liège–Bastogne–Liège

### 2011 (8)

    1st Overall Four Days of Dunkirk
       1st Stage 4
    1st Overall Tour du Haut Var
    1st Cholet-Pays de Loire
    Paris–Nice
       1st Stages 4 & 8
    3rd Road race, National Road Championships
    3rd GP Ouest-France
    4th Overall Tour de France
       Held after Stages 9–18
    4th Tour du Finistère
    4th Giro del Piemonte
    6th Overall Tour Méditerranéen
       1st Stage 1
    7th Overall Giro del Trentino
       1st Stage 2
    9th Overall Circuit de la Sarthe
    9th Grand Prix de la Somme
    10th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné
    10th Classic Loire Atlantique

### 2012 (4)

    1st Brabantse Pijl
    Tour de France
       1st Mountains classification
       1st Stages 10 & 16
    1st Stage 3 La Tropicale Amissa Bongo
    4th Liège–Bastogne–Liège
    5th Overall Four Days of Dunkirk
    5th Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes
    5th Amstel Gold Race
    7th Road race, UCI Road World Championships
    7th Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec
    8th Tour of Flanders
    9th Tre Valli Varesine

### 2013 (5)

    1st Overall Route du Sud
       1st Stage 3
    1st Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes
       1st Stage 4 (ITT)
    1st Stage 6 Critérium du Dauphiné
    2nd Tour du Doubs
    2nd Grand Prix de Wallonie
    5th Dwars door Vlaanderen
    8th Milano–Torino
    Combativity award Stage 4 Tour de France

### 2014

    2nd Paris–Tours
    3rd Tour de Vendée
    6th Grand Prix de Plumelec-Morbihan

### 2015

    2nd Overall Tour du Gévaudan Languedoc-Roussillon
    3rd Overall Tour de Yorkshire

### 2016 (4)

    1st Overall Tour La Provence
       1st Stage 1
    1st Overall Tour de Yorkshire
       1st Stage 3
    4th Overall Circuit de la Sarthe
    4th Overall Route du Sud
    Combativity award Stage 3 Tour de France

### Grand Tour general classification results timeline

| Grand Tour | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
| Giro d'Italia | 135 | — | — | — | — | — | DNF | — | 89 | 23 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Tour de France | — | — | 119 | 18 | 124 | 89 | 66 | 97 | 67 | 76 | 4 | 26 | 65 | 42 | 45 | 79 | 91 |
| Vuelta a España | — | — | — | — | 101 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |

### Classics results timeline

| Monument | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
| Milan–San Remo | — | — | — | — | 73 | 134 | 66 | — | — | — | — | — | 127 | — | — | — | — |
| Tour of Flanders | — | 93 | — | — | DNF | — | — | DNF | — | 57 | 28 | 8 | 35 | — | — | — | — |
| Paris–Roubaix | DNF | DNF | 53 | 77 | 80 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Liège–Bastogne–Liège | — | — | — | — | 36 | — | — | 40 | 47 | 10 | — | 4 | — | 36 | 27 | 106 | 112 |
| Giro di Lombardia | — | — | — | — | DNF | DNF | DNF | DNF | 77 | — | DNF | — | 34 | — | — | — | — |
| Classic | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
| Dwars door Vlaanderen | — | — | 48 | 84 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 5 | — | DNF | — | — |
| E3 Harelbeke | — | 68 | — | — | 43 | — | — | 4 | — | — | 31 | 67 | — | — | DNF | — | — |
| Brabantse Pijl | — | — | — | 47 | DNF | — | — | DNF | — | 6 | — | 1 | 14 | — | 46 | 95 | — |
| Amstel Gold Race | — | — | — | — | 69 | 32 | — | 30 | — | — | — | 5 | DNF | 25 | — | DNF | — |
| GP Ouest-France | — | — | 99 | — | — | 110 | 1 | 71 | 36 | — | 3 | 63 | 61 | — | 125 | DNF | — |
| Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec | Race did not exist | Race did not exist | Race did not exist | Race did not exist | Race did not exist | Race did not exist | Race did not exist | Race did not exist | Race did not exist | 1 | — | 7 | — | — | 55 | 114 | — |
| Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal | Race did not exist | Race did not exist | Race did not exist | Race did not exist | Race did not exist | Race did not exist | Race did not exist | Race did not exist | Race did not exist | 85 | — | 21 | — | — | 47 | 62 | — |
| Paris–Tours | — | 109 | — | — | 116 | 35 | 116 | 29 | DNF | 154 | — | — | 40 | 2 | — | — | — |
Legend :
| — | Did not compete |
| DNF | Did not finish |