Thread by @NoahvPutten

Explaining the Cycling Iceberg: How Thomas Voeckler nearly won the 2011 Tour de France. 1/23

#cyclingiceberg

The 2011 Tour de France started with 1 big favorite: Alberto Contador (Saxo). The Spaniard had won the 2 previous tours, and the 2011 Giro. Contador was however involved in a doping case. In the 2010 Tour he tested positive for Clenbuterol, and was suspended for a year. 2/23

Contador was however free to start the Tour, since he appealed the sanction. His 2010 win still stood in the books.
Most opposition for Contador was expected to come from Cadel Evans (BMC), Andy Schleck (Leopard) & Franck Schleck (Leopard). 3/23

Contador had a terrible start to the Tour. He crashed in the first stage and lost 1.20 to Evans, who ended second behind Philippe Gilbert (Lotto). He lost more time in the TTT & thought to have won stage 4 on the Mur de Bretagne. He celebrated, but Evans won the stage. 4/23

Thor Hushovd (Garmin) took the yellow jersey in the TTT and held it until the 9th stage in the Massif Central. There was a breakaway of 5 riders, but Flecha & Hoogerland got crashed out by a car. More on that in this thread: 5/23

Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank) won the stage ahead of Thomas Voeckler (Europecar). The peloton ended 4min behind which meant that Voeckler was the new maillot jaune, with a lead of 2.30 of the GC riders who were happy they didn’t have to control the peloton. 6/23

Voeckler was seen as a real baroudeur for medium mountain stages/ In 2004 he had already worn the yellow jersey for 10 days, but lost over 40min in the mountains. In 2009 & 2010 he won a stage from the breakaway. They didn't expect Voeckler to defend his jersey with panache. 7/23

Stage 12 finished on Luz Ardiden. Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel) won the stage, whilst the GC riders were very active. They attacked multiple times but Voeckler, helped by a very strong Pierre Rolland, managed to hang on. He stayed with the Schleck’s for a long time. 8/23

In the final km's F Schleck got away and gained 40s. Evans/A Schleck gained 20s on Voeckler in the final km. Contador made a bad impression.
The 13th stage finished downhill in Lourdes. Hushovd won the stage & there were no timegaps between the GC riders. 9/23

The 14th stage finished on Plateau De Beille. The GC favorites rolled attacks with 10k to go, but Voeckler followed. It became an attack-stop-attack-stop climb. Vandendert (Lotto) made use of this an won the stage. Voeckler survived all attacks and kept the yellow jersey. 10/23

Voeckler made the French dream about a first Tour de France win since Hinault won in 1985. He went into the third week with a lead of 1.50 on F Schleck, 2.05 on Evans, 2.15 on A Schleck & 4.00 on Contador. There were 2 hilly stages, 2 mountain stages & a TT left. 11/23

Contador still tried to win the tour. In the 16th stage to Gap he attacked on a 3rd category climb and dropped everyone bar Evans & S Sanchez. They gained 20s on Voeckler, but over a minute on Andy Schleck who was scared in the wet downhill towards Gap. 12/23

Contador attacked again the following day. This time he was unable to drop his rivals uphill, so he tried a downhill attack with S Sanchez. Voeckler made a mistake under this pressure, and road onto a carpark where he needed to turn around. He lost 30s due to this error. 13/23

The 18th stage featured the Agnel & Izoard before finishing on the Galibier. Andy Schleck, 2.23 down in GC, launched an all or nothing attack on the Izoard. By the top of the climb he had a lead of 2min. Maxime Monfort functioned as a satellite rider in the downhill. 14/23

A Schleck started the Galibier with a lead of 4min on the favorites, who were quickly out of domestiques. Evans took his responsibility and paced. He slowly but steadily started eating the lead of Andy. But with 2k to Andy still had 3min, things were looking good for him. 15/23

Whilst Voeckler was hanging on for dear life, Contador was dropped. Andy won the stage, but lost a minute of his lead in the final KM. His brother Franck ended second, seconds ahead of Evans & Voeckler who saved his yellow jersey by 15s. France was ecstatic! 16/23

The dreams of an entire nation were crushed the following day. The 19th stage finished up Alpe d’Huez, but had the Galibier it before.
With 96k to go Contador launched an attack with 3 satellite riders. Evans & A Schleck responded, but Voeckler was in crisis. 17/23

He eventually bridged the gap, but was under tremendous pressure the entire climb. Contador kept attacking and eventually dropped Voeckler. Evans had a mechanical at the same moment, leaving Contador & A Schleck up the road. Voeckler topped the Telegraphe 30s behind. 18/23

Evans got things organised on the Galibier, but Voeckler dropped back too late. Contador kept expanding the gap, putting Andy in a great position to win the Tour. Evans had to do something and attacked. Voeckler was left behind, but still had some teammates to help him. 19/23

Evans closed the gap to 30, Voeckler was a minute behind him. In the downhill everything came back together again. Interestingly enough, Rolland attacked in the valley with Hesjedal and started the final climbs with 50s on the GC group. 20/23

The GC group was blown into pieces at the bottom of the Alpe. A Schleck & Evans both attacked, putting and end to Voeckler's dreams. Contador then attacked, caught Rolland and left him behind. Contador exploded in the final km’s and was caught by S Sanchez & Rolland. 21/23

A late attack by Rolland saw him win the stage & white jersey, but behind there was still a yellow jersey up for grabs. Despite multiple attacks, Evans, A Schleck & F Schleck finished together. Voeckler lost 2.30 to them. Andy Schlek took the yellow jersey. 22/23

A 40K TT determined who would win the Tour. Evans was a much better TT’er than the Schlecks, and didn’t disappoint. He ended second in the TT more than 2min ahead of the Schleck’s. Evans won the tour, ahead of Andy & Franck Schleck. Voeckler ended 4th in GC. 23/23

Sources: nrc.nl/dossier/tour-d… cyclingnews.com/races/tour-de-… nos.nl/artikel/214423… wielerflits.nl/nieuws/voorbes…

GC from @FirstCycling

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