page_title: Thomas Voeckler
section_title: 2011
hierarchical_section_title: Thomas Voeckler / Career / 2011
caption_attribution_description: English: Thomas Voeckler et Arnold Jeannesson
context_page_description: Thomas Voeckler 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.
context_section_description: 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.
caption: Voeckler in the yellow jersey at the 2011 Tour de France
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