Frenchman Thomas Voeckler pulled on the Tour de France yellow jersey after a dramatic ninth stage won by Spain's Luis Leon Sanchez and marred by nearly a dozen crashes on Sunday.Voeckler, of Europcar, had been part of an early breakaway that made it to the finish line of the 208 kilometre ride from Issoire unchallenged after a mass pile-up in the peloton caused mayhem and delayed the chase.Two of Voeckler's breakaway companions, Johnny Hoogerland and Juan Antonio Flecha, were then taken out of the equation for the win after they were hit by a television car 35km from home.It left Rabobank rider Sanchez, Voeckler and his compatriot Sandy Casar contending the win, with Sanchez launching an unassailable sprint 250 metres from the uphill finish to leave Voeckler in second. And if my legs were hurting out in front I knew the others would be hurting to catch me up. Posts about Voeckler written by hermitblogger. "Just on a numbers basis, with 20 to 30 kph block headwind up a valley, we are in a group of 40 with one to nine guys riding at the front, and they are in a group of four riding at the front. "That's the way I am, I'm not afraid of losing. They put it all on the line and they really had to do a long-range attack," Evans said. It wasn't a big surprise that Andy attacked. Tomorrow's another day. "Surprisingly, the Frenchman has survived another epic day of racing in the mountains and, if he achieves the same on Friday, could realistically take aim at a place on the podium.Voeckler, however, continues to play down his chances. It's bad. "After I crashed I began feeling the pain again but I hope with some ice and some rest it will get better. Andy Schleck simply raced out of his skin. This race is not over. 5ème : le groupe Voeckler / Schleck(s) / Evans / Contador... en 2011 en 46min58, 20,18 km/h, 399,05 watts. ""It seems like the Schleck brothers had the best climbing team, in combination. "He added: "It was a hard day, an epic stage and one that everyone expected. "Today, I raced well above my capabilities. "I just tried to stick with Evans to try and limit the damage. It's a horrible accident and I was in it. "When he went I didn't even try to follow him," said the Frenchman, who rides for Europcar. Thomas Voeckler Tour de France 2011 - L'histoire d'un rêve en Jaune - Duration: 11 ... Bruno Roussel "Le dopage dans le cyclisme, c'est une gloire" | Archive INA - Duration: 11:39. "Contador, who admitted the knee pain he suffered had flared up again, admitted: "Victory is impossible now. "Casar, of FDJ, was third with Belgian Philippe Gilbert of Omega-Pharma leading home a peloton containing a somewhat reduced bunch of yellow jersey favourites three minutes and 59 seconds later.Voeckler took over the race lead from Norwegian Thor Hushovd and now leads Sanchez by 1:49 in the general classification, with Australian Cadel Evans third at 2:26 followed by Frank Schleck (2:29) and Andy Schleck (2:37).Reigning champion Alberto Contador, who earlier in the stage suffered his fourth crash in eight days, is 16th at 4:07.Contador later revealed a knee pain he has felt since a crash on Wednesday had flared up. Thomas Voeckler (born 1979-06-22) is a road racing cyclist from France and was active between 1999 and 2017.
What was a surprise was the gap he made during the day.
"Today I had a few problems and I'm a little bit anxious about my knee," he said. "Last year Casar beat me in a two-up sprint [at Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne] but that time it was my fault because I hadn't checked out the finish," Sanchez said after taking his first win of the season for Rabobank. "This time I did my homework. Alert moderator.
Luxembourg's Andy Schleck took a giant stride towards a maiden Tour de France triumph overnight as Spanish rival Alberto Contador suffered a dramatic collapse and Cadel Evans was forced onto the defensive on an epic 18th stage in the Alps.Schleck, the runner-up the past two years to the Spaniard, took all his rivals by surprise with an attack on the second of two major climbs, the Izoard, over 60km from the finish of the 200km stage.Building a lead of four minutes on race leader Thomas Voeckler, Evans and Contador, the Leopard-Trek rider then went on to finish solo on the legendary summit of the Galibier.Older brother Frank Schleck finished second at 2min 07sec, with Evans at 2:15 and Voeckler a handful of seconds behind.Winning only his second stage of the race, Schleck slashed his deficit to Voeckler who now leads the Luxemburger by just 15secs.Explaining why he had attacked so far from the finish, Schleck said: "I don't want to finish fourth in Paris, and I said to myself 'I'm going to risk everything, it'll work or it'll fail'. Voeckler owes Cadel a big thanks for dragging him up the mountain, which resulted in him retaining the yellow jersey. You have to look at the big picture. "For the past three days different riders have been taking time off me. They really rode fast at the front, I don't quite understand how they made so much time," said Evans.If it gets him the victory he so desires, Andy Schleck's attack will go down as one of the all-time stories of the race.Voeckler admitted he didn't even try to match the Luxemburger when he accelerated away unchallenged halfway up the Izoard. Tempêtes sur le Tour Dix ans après l'affaire Festina, Pierre Ballester, co-auteur de L.A. Confidentiel, publie Tempêtes sur le Tour.Dans ce livre, il dresse un état des lieux du cyclisme d'aujourd'hui et de son épreuve phare. "But while he will get to savour his feat on Monday's rest day many other teams will be taking stock of the damage.Belgian Jurgen van den Broeck became the second yellow jersey contender after Bradley Wiggins, to crash out when he got caught up in a mass pile-up on the descent of the Col du Pas de Peyrol as the peloton trailed by 3:25.In the same spill Alexandre Vinokourov, racing what was his eighth and final Tour, found himself in the trees and out of the race with a fractured femur in the same crash.It also took out van den Broeck's teammate Fredrik Willems and American David Zabriskie.The shock of the crash caused the peloton to slow the pace, giving Voeckler's breakaway group a lead which, with over 80km to race, would soon reach over seven minutes.The five would go on to be unchallenged, but further drama would unfold 35km from the finish when Hoogerland was sent somersaulting into a fence and Flecha hit the deck at full speed.Both got back up to finish although they trailed home over 16 minutes off the pace.Tour organisers reacted by throwing the culprit car off the race.With the memory of Belgian Wouter Weylandt's death from a crash in May's Giro d'Italia still fresh in the minds of many, Hoogerland was looking at the bigger picture.