Voeckler victorious in Bagneres-de-Luchon

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He soloed into Perpignan during stage five of last year's Tour de France and on a day that changed the direction of the 2010 Tour, Thomas Voeckler celebrated another glorious win alone in Bagnères-de-Luchon, a victory that adds more lustre to French performances at this season's edition of la grande boucle.

Last year he had a hard-charging pack of sprinters breathing down his neck following a late-stage attack that netted him the triumph but today Voeckler could sit up and take more than 90 seconds to celebrate what was a stellar performance that was shaped on the slopes of the Port de Balès.

That same mountain also held the key to the fight for the overall race lead, the battle lines for which had been drawn a week ago in Morzine-Avoriaz and today took a turn in another direction thanks to a mechanical for hitherto maillot jaune Andy Schleck.

An eight-second advantage to Contador was the net result; with two days remaining in the Pyrenees this could prove critical to the outcome of the 2010 Tour, although as we've seen thus far in an incredible race, there's likely to be more twists and turns in the plot too.

But the day belonged to Voeckler. The 31-year-old rose to prominence when he famously wore the maillot jaune at the 2004 Tour and won the aforementioned stage at last year's Tour, winning Classics and significant races in between, although today's triumph will be difficult to match, such was the quality and pomp of the Frenchman's finish along the tree-lined avenues of Luchon.

It came during what was another difficult day at the Tour, at the end of which Alberto Contador was presented the maillot jaune, a jersey with which he's extremely familiar and one he hopes to be wearing on the Champs-Élysées on Sunday afternoon.

While there were boos from sections of the crowd at the post-stage protocol when Contador was presented with his reward, the fact remains that the Spaniard and defending champion did what he had to do when presented with two rivals intent on improving their position in the overall standings and a friend (and rival) who had just experienced a moment of difficulty beyond his control.

While the actions of Contador and others on the Balès were labelled "untraditional" by Saxo Bank, the reality was that Schleck became the unfortunate victim of an untimely mechanical that now has the young Luxembourger determined to come back stronger.

"I was feeling strong and determined throughout the stage and the team really everything to put me in the perfect position for the final climb," said Schleck after the finish. "When I launched my second attack, the chain got stuck and I had to get off the bike to put it back on. Then they attacked.

"I probably wouldn't have done it like that," he said before adding, "I'm just really looking forward to getting another chance of attacking - the jersey deserves honour."

Just another day...in the Pyrenees

The obvious highlight of today's racing was the Port de Balès, the 18.87km, 1,755m high monster with an average gradient nudging over six percent and slopes exceeding 11 percent near the summit. Despite the pain to come, the first hour's average speed was 47.5km/h as the peloton proved to be extremely selective with whom it let take time off the front.

Eventually, with nigh on 100 of the day's 187 kilometres raced, a break finally succeeded. Initiated by Liquigas-Doimo's Brian Vandborg and Milram rider Luke Roberts, a group of 10 formed on the road, including Johan Van Summeren (Garmin-Transitions), Sergei Ivanov (Katusha), Alessandro Ballan (BMC Racing), Francesco Reda (Quick Step), Aitor Perez Arrieta (Footon-Servetto), Lloyd Mondory (AG2R - La Mondiale), Bbox Bouygues Telecom duo Thomas Voeckler and Sebastian Turgot and Euskaltel - Euskadi's Alan Perez.

It may have taken a long time for the break to escape but when it did the flood gates opened; with 88km to go the gap had been extended to four minutes, which was increased further - to 5:40 - four kilometres later. Another two clicks down the road and that advantage had blown out to 6:40.

The break was given a leash of over seven minutes to play with as the riders' speedometers said 80km remaining in the stage. Just eight kilometres later that had expanded to 8:09 and seemed to be growing... and grow it certainly would.

Behind them Saxo Bank assumed its normal position of keeping pace on the front of the peloton and continued to give the escapees time, letting its ascendancy edge closer to nine minutes. With 65km to go it reached that mark, a big effort given that the break had only flown the coop some 30km earlier. The break approached the summit of the Col de Ares with an advantage of 9:25, adding another three seconds by the time they crested the second category climb and piling on the time on the descent.

B is for brutal - and Balès

With 51km remaining and in the shadows of the Port de Balès the break passed through the second intermediate sprint having gathered steam to the tune of 9:54, with it topping 10:11 three kilometres later. Meanwhile, the front of the trailing peloton resembled a two-layered cake, the special Saxo Bank-Astana sponge boasting a Schleck-Contador filling preparing itself for battle on the brutal slopes of Balès.

Recognising the lack of climbing firepower in the front group, the big names continued to give the break plenty of space, with the battlegrounds being prepared further behind in an apparent calm before the storm. This manifested in a gap of 10:44 between peloton and break, recorded with 43.7km before the finish in Bagnères-de-Luchon.

That was the entire length of the break's rope and soon after, on the lower slopes of the Port de Balès (with the toughest section remaining, of course) the seemingly massive gap began to make its way south. When the peloton hit those lower slopes, many of the riders on its tail also began making their way in a similar direction.

And as we've seen on so many occasions, Stuart O'Grady and Jens Voigt were the reason for the carnage, setting a menacing tempo to set up Saxo Bank's man in yellow, Schleck. An indication of the pace set by the likes of Voigt and co. could be seen in the rapid reduction of the break - with 32km remaining its advantage had been cut to 7:16.

That same break, which had remained a solid unit all afternoon, began to splinter soon after as it began to hit the final 10km of the climb, the strongest of the survivors being Voeckler, who continued in a brave effort alone with an advantage of 5:56 as he had five kilometres to ride before the summit.

When the peloton passed that same point some six minutes later, Contador's Astana teammates had gathered menacingly at the front of the group; a nod from the Spaniard to teammate Dani Navarro the sign that soon it would be time to up the pace and begin the show.

D is for drama - and dodgy drivetrains

But with 24km to go it was Schleck who hit out alone after Saxo Bank's final sacrificial lamb Chris Anker Sorensen dropped off the front. The race leader then took Contador, Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Denis Menchov (Rabobank) and Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Omega Pharma-Lotto) with him and in an ideal situation for fans, the top five on general classification had separated themselves from the field which had failed to maintain the hectic pace.

Constantly looking behind, Schleck was conscious of the threat posed by the men on his wheel, first of whom was Contador, who was content to sit on the yellow jersey - he need not do anything else, safe in the knowledge that it would require an earth-shattering event for the Luxembourger to be ridden of him.

Ahead of them Voeckler was making his way through the final 1,000 metres of the climb, the summit beckoning as the French national champion was being wonderfully willed on by his countrymen on the roadside and continued to believe in the chance of victory despite being alone. He still had over five minutes over the groupe maillot jaune by the end of the suffering, with a manic descent to come.

But as Voeckler was dreaming of victory, the biggest drama of the day was unfolding down the mountain as Schleck attacked with just under two kilometres of the climb remaining but was stopped just as suddenly when a dropped chain forced him to get off the bike while Vinokourov, Sanchez, Menchov and Contador rode away.

While TV pundits were calling it a defeat for fair play, Contador couldn't afford to wait for the man who stood 31 seconds between himself and the race lead at the start of the day. Faced with a hard-charging Sanchez and Menchov, Contador was stuck between the proverbial rock and potentially harder place.

The probability seemed to be that the maillot jaune would regain contact with a long downhill run into Bagnères-de-Luchon and at the summit of the Balès that eventuality appeared to be a likelihood as the gap was about 13 seconds between the Contador group and Schleck, who had Van Den Broeck for company. On the descent that advantage grew to 22 seconds as the race lead was slipping from the Saxo Bank captain's grasp.

It was in stark contrast to Voeckler, who up ahead was enjoying the final five kilometres - a frenetic victory parade laced with lactate. The lone survivor of the day's break, the man who throws up his hand at the most opportune moments to capture the hearts of French cycling fans, the rider who bases his entire reputation on days like this... was in a frantic rush to get to the finish as quickly as possible.

Behind him it was even more frantic however, as two distinct groups - one containing Contador, Sanchez, Menchov, plus breakaway leftovers Roberts and Reda, the other Van Den Broeck, Schleck and Vinokourov - were battling for precious seconds.

Eventually that fight proved to be in the favour of Contador, who finished in seventh place, 2:50 behind stage winner Voeckler, having done enough to pull on another maillot jaune while the man in another special jersey, that of the French national road race champion, closed his eyes and savoured the moment on the podium.