Voeckler con­quers the moun­tains at the Tour de France

Thomas Voeckler won his sec­ond stage at the Tour de France and pulled on the polka-dot jer­sey as leader of the moun­tains com­pe­ti­tion with yet another emotional-fueled and coura­geous ride.

Voeckler went on the attack early in the stage with the deci­sive break­away group. While other fal­tered in the heat and on the climbs, he seemed inspired and pro­duced the per­for­mance of his career. He even­tu­ally broke clear with fel­low Frenchman Brice Feillu and then attacked hard on the Col du Peyresourde. He went on to win alone in Bagneres-de-Luchon, almost in shock after his inspired performance.

Thanks to being the first over each of the four major moun­tains in the stage, Voeckler also pulled on the iconic polka-dot jer­sey and leads the Tour de France climber’s com­pe­ti­tion by four points. With just some lesser climbs to cover dur­ing the final stages of the race, Voeckler is the favourite to win the climber’s com­pe­ti­tion in Paris on Sunday.

It was the Frenchman’s sec­ond stage vic­tory in this year’s Tour de France and the third win for Team Europcar and Colnago. Voeckler used his spe­cial Colnago C59 Team Edition bike dur­ing the stage, con­firm­ing it is the per­fect bike for rac­ing in the mountains.

“I can’t really under­stand what I’ve done. It’s the kind of thing I watched on tele­vi­sion as a kid but today it was me who did it, said Voeckler after his stun­ning victory.

“I raced as if each climb was a sep­a­rate race. I know every metre of the climbs from train­ing here in this region. That really helped me. Even so, I’m find­ing it hard to com­pre­hend what I have done. Winning in Bellegarde was spe­cial but this is some­thing else. Now my pri­or­ity is to defend the polka dot jersey.”