In terms of Grand Tour general classification, few considered Thomas Voeckler as anything other than a gallant fighter until today’s stage of the Tour de France. Things changed on the slopes of Plateau de Beille, a summit finish regarded by some as the hardest of this year’s race, when the Frenchman battled shoulder to shoulder with the general classification contenders and succeeded in defending his bright yellow jersey.
One of those who was impressed by what he saw was one of the top race favourites, Cadel Evans. “Voeckler is really good. Everyone has been saying, ‘He’s going to lose yellow...’ but I’m like, ‘No way!’,” he said after the finish. “I think he’s going to go a few more days at least. He hangs in there every day and I imagine that he’s incredibly motivated here in France and riding in yellow on Bastille Day for a French team. It all helps.”
Evans was fourth to the line, leading home eight riders who were just two seconds behind Andy Schleck (Leopard Trek). The latter attacked several times on the climb, but appeared to lack conviction; Evans also tried near the top, but the others were quickly onto his move.
Voeckler rolled in three places behind him and ended the day with the same one minute 49 seconds advantage over Frank Schleck (Leopard Trek). Evans is two minutes six seconds back and, on the basis of his time trialing abilities, is in a very strong position vis-à-vis the general classification.
“It’s under control,” he said. “Everyone says that no one attacks and so on... but they also need to consider the wind and the closeness of the racing. The Schleck brothers were there and they’ve got the yellow jersey to gain and then they look at me to pull for them. I joke with them, ‘I’m not here to tow you to Paris.’”
Indeed with their relatively modest history against the clock, the two Luxembourg riders need to go on the offensive and gain time over Evans. He himself is content to bide his time, although he’ll clearly hope to get closer to Voeckler in the days ahead.
“I tried to keep things under control. It was a long, but not a steep climb. It's at this point in the race that the GC contenders are pretty evenly matched,” he said. “So it's really hard to make a big difference. Like so many cycling experts have said, we wasted a lot of energy as a team to put ourselves into a good position coming into the mountains. It's a little bit of conservative racing, but these stages are hard.”
“They’ve been saying that whoever wins here today will be the winner of the Tour. Maybe I need to break away to win... I don’t know. As long as it’s on consistency and being there every day, it’s okay for me…”
Tomorrow’s stage is a flat, fast 192.5 kilometres from Limoux to Montpellier. A bunch sprint is the most likely outcome, although the general classification contenders will be aware that there is a risk of sidewinds and thus a danger the peloton could break up.
Providing things stay together, though, Evans will head into the second rest day in a strong position. Third overall at this point of the race and holding an advantage over many of the other team leaders, he will be satisfied with where he is.