page_title: Jens Voigt
section_title: 2011–2014 (Leopard Trek)
hierarchical_section_title: Jens Voigt / Career / 2011–2014 (Leopard Trek)
context_page_description: Jens Voigt is a German former professional road bicycle racer and, upon retirement, became a cycling sports broadcast commentator. During his cycling career, Voigt raced for several teams, the last one being UCI ProTeam Trek Factory Racing. Voigt wore the yellow jersey of the Tour de France twice, though he was never a contender for the overall title owing to the mountainous nature of the stages of the race being better suited to climbing specialists. His career achievements include winning the Critérium International a record-tying 5 times and a number of one-week stage races, as well as two Tour de France stage victories. In September 2014, he set a new hour record.
  Among cycling fans, Voigt was generally popular, both for his aggressive riding style and his affable, forthright and articulate manners in dealing with the public and media. He speaks fluent French and English, in addition to his native German.
context_section_description: Shut up legs!
  — Jens Voigt's "trademark" catchphrase
  The 2011 season was to be the first one of his career in which he would not achieve a victory. He joined the newly formed Leopard Trek, following the Schleck brothers, Fabian Cancellara and four other riders coming from his 2010 team, Team Saxo Bank. Kim Andersen was the creator of that new team, being himself a former Saxo Bank manager. In the spring, he took part in Paris-Nice, taking the sixth place of the first stage, and then went on to help his teammate Fränk Schleck win the Critérium International. In May, he suffered a fracture to his scaphoid in a crash during the Tour of California, riding a whole stage with the injury before doctors discovered it with X-Rays. He healed in time for the Tour de France, ready to sacrifice himself and put any personal ambitions aside to help his leaders, the Schleck brothers. He played a pivotal role in helping the pair reach the second and third steps of the podium behind BMC Racing Team's Cadel Evans. In August, Voigt went to the USA Pro Challenge, and had some good results by taking the fifth place of the prologue and then finishing eighth in the individual time trial. Designated to lead his squad in the Tour of Britain, Voigt suffered his second broken bone of the year in that race, this time a finger bone. The injury occurred in a crash on the first stage and he had to abandon. The healing process was a slow one since it took almost a month for a complete recovery to be achieved.
  In 2012, Voigt was the oldest rider of the World Tour teams at 40 years of age when the season started. That did not stop him from going into a long breakaway on the sixth stage of Paris-Nice. After every rider had been dropped but one, Voigt was beaten in a sprint by Luis Leon Sanchez of the Rabobank team. In April, Voigt participated to the Tour of the Basque Country, where a peculiar incident occurred. Voigt signed in late for a stage start, then had a bit of a verbal match against an official who complained about his lateness. He was fined sign: Fr. or SFr. or FS 1,000 Swiss francs for what was described as "comportamiento incorrecto" (bad behavior) in a report. He later had a good showing at the Tour of California, where he came in second of the fifth stage, an individual time trial contested in Bakersfield, 23 seconds behind David Zabriskie. He was also part of breakaways and paced the bunch often. On the Tour de France, he finished in third position of the tenth stage. He was dropped on the slopes of the Col du Grand Colombier, but came back on the four escapees before competing in the final sprint. In August, during a press conference prior to the Tour of Utah, he announced that he would continue racing through the 2013 season. In the same month, Voigt took the fourth stage of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge finishing in Beaver Creek. He attacked his breakaway companions on Independence Pass, which was situated in the first third of the race, and then soloed on to victory with almost three minutes of an advantage over the chasers. He raced more than 100 kilometres (62 mi) alone, taking one of the most epic victory of his career.
  In May 2013, at the Tour of California, Voigt contributed to creating an echelon on stage 5, splitting the peloton in half with 55 km (34 mi) to race. The 18 riders group stayed away until Voigt attacked with 5 km (3.1 mi) to race, winning solo in Avila Beach. Even at 41 years of age, he attacked on the penultimate stage of Tour de France, and won the combative award of the day before he was caught by the overall contenders, just a few kilometers into the final ascent.
  Voigt was selected by Trek Factory Racing as part of their team for the 2014 Tour de France, giving him a 17th start on the Grande Boucle, matching the record for Tour starts held by George Hincapie and Stuart O'Grady. He was part of the break on Stage 1 of the tour, winning the combativity prize for the stage and taking the lead in the king of the mountains competition. As a mark of respect, the peloton let Voigt ride at the front on the first lap of t
caption: Voigt at the 2011 Tour de France.
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