Thomas Voeckler

Thomas Voeckler

Thomas Voeckler at the Grand Prix d'Isbergues 2014
To person
Date of birth	June 22, 1979
nation	France
discipline	Street
End of career	2017
Team (s)
2000–2002 2003–2004 2005–2008 2009–2010 2011–2015 2016	Bonjour Brioches La Boulangère Bouygues Télécom Bbox Bouygues Telecom Team Europcar Direct Energy
Most important successes
French road racing champion 2004, 2010 mountain classification Tour de France 2012
Team (s) as coach
2020 -	French national road team
Last updated: February 23, 2016

Thomas Voeckler (born June 22, 1979 in Schiltigheim , Alsace ) is a French cycling trainer and former professional cyclist . He was considered a specialist in breakaway attempts and had an offensive driving style.

Sports career

Thomas Voeckler's family emigrated to Martinique in the 1980s, and he himself returned to France alone at the age of 17 . His father (psychiatrist and passionate hobby sailor) has been missing since October 1992 after a sailing trip. He had given Voeckler his first bicycle for his 13th birthday.

Thomas Voeckler made his professional debut in 2000 with the French Bonjour team , for which he drove until 2002. He then got a contract with the successor team Brioches La Boulangère . In 2003 he took part in the Tour de France for the first time , where he finished 117th overall. In 2004, Voeckler was in Pont-du-Fossé ( department Hautes-Alpes ) French champion in the road race.

In the subsequent Tour de France conquered Voeckler in the 5th stage from Amiens to Chartres the yellow jersey of the overall leader. In a five-man breakaway group, Voeckler managed to take 12 minutes 33 seconds from the previous leader, Lance Armstrong . After the 15th stage he had to give the yellow jersey back to Lance Armstrong, but was able to keep the white jersey of the best young professional, but only until the penultimate stage, the individual time trial at Besançon . There he lost it to the Russian Vladimir Karpez . Nevertheless, the French celebrated him as a national hero and found a new favorite thanks to his fighting spirit.

At the Tour de France 2005 Voeckler won the dotted jersey of the best climber for one day , which he wore again for five days at the Tour de France 2008 . Voeckler was finally able to celebrate a stage win in the Tour de France in 2009 : he finished the 5th stage from Cap d'Agde to Perpignan as a soloist seven seconds ahead of the peloton.

In 2006 his annual income was 380,000 euros.

At the Tour de France 2010 Thomas Voeckler, who also became French road racing champion that year, won the 15th stage from Pamiers to Bagnères-de-Luchon . In the Pyrenees he broke away from a leading group at Port de Balès and won as a soloist with a sure margin.

In 2011 Voeckler drove for the Europcar team , which is the successor to Bbox Bouygues Télécom . On the long-distance Paris-Nice trip , he won two stages, including the prestigious final stage over the traditional Col d'Eze in Nice.

At the 2011 Tour de France , he won the yellow jersey on stage 9 as part of a breakaway group. He then had a lead of around two and a half minutes on the favorites in the overall standings. Contrary to all expectations, Voeckler was initially able to defend the yellow jersey as in 2004 on the Plateau de Beille . After “saving” the yellow jersey over the Pyrenees, he then succeeded in defending it in the Alps over the 18th stage , the “queen's stage” of this Tour de France. His lead over Andy Schleck had now melted to 15 seconds. The following day he lost over three minutes on the 19th stage up to L'Alpe d'Huez and with it the yellow jersey to Andy Schleck. In the final overall classification, Voeckler was fourth. This made him the best-placed Frenchman in the Tour de France since Christophe Moreau in 2000 . With now 20 days in the yellow jersey of the overall leader, he is one of the drivers, alongside Miguel Indurain and Lance Armstrong , who have been allowed to wear the jersey most often in the past 20 years.

His victories in one-day races are also worth mentioning, apart from the two victories in the French road championships already mentioned. He was able to decide two races of the UCI WorldTour . In 2007 it won the Grand Prix Ouest-France and in 2010 the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec at its first edition. Added to this are Paris-Bourges in 2006 and the Belgian semi-classic Pfeil von Brabant in 2012. In addition, there are more than ten overall victories in smaller tours such as the Tour of Luxembourg 2003, Route du Sud 2006 and 2013, Tour du Poitu Charentes 2007 and 2013, Etoile de Bessèges 2009 and Tour du Haut-Var 2009 and 2011, Four days of Dunkirk 2011 , Tour La Provence and Tour de Yorkshire 2016.

Voeckler contested his last race at the Tour de France 2017 . He was often present in breakaway groups during the tour, but could not achieve success and was 91st overall.

Professional

In 2019 Thomas Voeckler was appointed as the successor to Cyrille Guimard as the new coach of the French national road team from 2020.

successes

Voeckler at the Tour de France 2014

2000 Flèche Ardennaise 2003 Overall ranking Tour of Luxembourg 2004 French champion - road racing 2006 one stage tour of the Basque Country Overall ranking Route du Sud Paris – Bourges 2007 Overall ranking Tour du Poitou Charentes Grand Prix Ouest France 2008 Overall ranking Circuit de la Sarthe Grand Prix de Plumelec-Morbihan 2009 Overall ranking Étoile de Bessèges Overall ranking and a stage Tour du Haut-Var Trophée des Grimpeurs a stage in the Tour de France

2010 French champion - road racing a stage Tour de France Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec 2011 one stage tour of the Mediterranean Overall ranking Tour du Haut-Var two stages Paris – Nice Grand Prix Cholet-Pays de la Loire one stage of the Giro del Trentino Overall classification and a stage Four days from Dunkirk 2012 Brabantse Pijl a stage La Tropicale Amissa Bongo two stages and the Tour de France mountain classification 2013 a stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné Overall ranking and a stage Route du Sud Overall ranking and a stage Tour du Poitou Charentes 2016 Overall ranking and a stage Tour La Provence Overall standings and one stage Tour de Yorkshire

Grand Tours placements

Grand Tour	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Giro d'Italia	135	-	-	-	-	-	WD	-	87	23	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Tour de France	-	-	119	18th	124	88	65	94	66	76	4th	26th	65	42	45	79	91
Vuelta a España	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Individual evidence

1. ↑ L'Équipe magazine. No. 1287, March 3, 2007, ISSN  0245-3312 , p. 40, Supplement No. 19239.
2. ↑ Voeckler says goodbye to "his" tour without a show. radsport-news.com, July 25, 2017, accessed July 25, 2017 . 
3. ↑ Nick Doup: Thomas Voeckler nieuwe bondscoach Franse mannenploeg. In: WielerFlits. June 30, 2019, accessed October 27, 2019 (Dutch). 

Web links

Commons : Thomas Voeckler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Thomas Voeckler in the Radsportseiten.net database
• Thomas Voeckler in the Tour de France database(French / English )
• Thomas Voeckler in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Thomas Voeckler in the ProCyclingStats.com database