Midway through the post race press conference two days ago, Thomas Voeckler reached behind his neck, pulled down a zipper and started take off the yellow jersey he had been presented with minutes earlier. It was a bit of a struggle but he successfully clambered out of the top, preferring instead to show off his Europcar team jersey to the cameras.
He was back in yellow yesterday and, this time, it was his rivals did their utmost to relieve him of the Maillot Jaune. He showed a lot of tenacity to fight all the way to the finish line, remaining in the chase group while more accomplished Grand Tour riders such as Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank SunGard) and Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel Euskadi) cracked and lost time.
Some have faulted Voeckler for not working but, in truth, had he shared the pacesetting with Cadel Evans, he would have lost contact and given up his jersey. Instead, he remained at the top of the general classification, albeit by just 15 seconds.
“When it is so difficult in the last kilometres, there is no place for emotion, only suffering and suffering,” he said after the finish. “And also of course concentrating… You have to work with the direction of the wind and also watch out for the spectators…they pushed me and almost made me crash twice. Of course there was suffering all the time.”
Voeckler did slip back, but it wasn’t until he was well inside the final kilometre. He battled up to the finish line, grimacing with pain, then thrust his fist in the air to celebrate keeping the golden tunic. Once over the finish line, he slumped over his bike and was clearly very, very drained.
Asked if it was a surprise to him that he kept the jersey, he said that it wasn’t the first stage where he was expected to drop back. “It was already unexpected what I did on Luz Ardiden, it was the same on Plateau de Beille,” he said. “There was a lot of wind, really a lot, and Cadel Evans was very, very strong. He is my favourite for the final victory as the climb he did there was very impressive.
“Of course, I am aware of what I achieved today but I am not here to congratulate myself. I think I will realise what I achieved only later.”
Three days remain in this year’s Tour but with the final stage almost always coming down to a bunch sprint, Vockler knows that the next two are the crucial ones. Today’s race takes the riders over the Col du Telegraphe, the Col du Galibier and up to the finish at Alpe d’Huez. If he can maintain his grip on the yellow jersey – or even if he concedes it by a small margin to one of the Schleck brothers but holds his advantage over Cadel Evans, he can potentially win the race in tomorrow’s time trial.
Nobody knows what will happen, least of all himself. If he’s to go down, though, he’ll go down fighting. “I cannot guarantee what I will do, but what I can tell you is that I will fight again to defend my jersey,” he promised. “I think it would be absolutely indecent not to to be motivated. Of course I will fight and give it all to try to keep the jersey.”
He added that the finale would be quite different to that of the Galibier. “It is completely different…it is the Alpe d’Huez, it is very, very hard. Everybody knows that Andy is a better climber than I am and every day he is stronger. But I will see what I can do.”
Once likely scenario is that one or other of the Schleck brothers will attack to try to open time up over Voeckler and Cadel Evans prior to the final time trial. If that happens, Voeckler will try to remain with Evans, as he did yesterday.
Should he manage to do that and keeps the gaps tight to the Schlecks, he would head into the time trial with a chance of victory. That seemed unthinkable when he took the yellow jersey twelve days ago; his defence has been stronger than even he anticipated, and means that he will focus fully on the Tour de France next year.