Early years at the
2004 Tour de France In 2003, Voeckler won two stages and the overall title in the
Tour de Luxembourg. The following year, he suddenly rose to international prominence in the world of cycling. After seizing the
French National Road Race Championships, the lightly regarded Voeckler entered the
2004 Tour de France. After escaping with five other riders during the fifth stage, Voeckler gained significant time against the
peloton, and earned the
yellow jersey (). Remarkably, he defended his jersey for ten days, even on stages not well-suited to his strengths. With the maillot jaune on his shoulders and intense media attention all around him, Voeckler only rode stronger. He survived the dreaded climbs of the
Pyrenees seconds ahead of
Lance Armstrong. Voeckler finally surrendered the jersey to Armstrong on stage 15 in the French Alps. Voeckler then also lost the white jersey (; held by the best rider under 25) to
Vladimir Karpets. But by then Voeckler was already a national hero. The 2005 season was busy as Voeckler rode many races, including some not considered a fit for his style of riding. His only win that year came in Stage 3 of the
Four Days of Dunkirk. In 2006 he won the fifth stage in the
Tour of the Basque Country. At the
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, Voeckler finished second on Stage 1, and he also won
Paris–Bourges. In 2007, Voeckler garnered a stunning win at the
GP Ouest-France, in which he beat the favorites with a late breakaway. For 2008, his early season was highlighted with an overall win at the
Circuit de la Sarthe and in 2009, he gained his first stage win at the Tour de France, winning
stage 5. Voeckler went for victory with about to go, having been part of a breakaway group for most of the race.
2010 After a somewhat slow start to 2010, Voeckler went on to win the
French National Road Race Championships for the second time. He was able to break away from the bunch along with
Christophe Le Mével, and Voeckler bested Le Mével in the sprint. He later described this win in the
Vendée department, where he had made his home, as the best moment of his career. His form then continued into the
Tour de France where, after several unsuccessful attacks, he was first over the finish line during Stage 15. He launched himself before the summit of the Hors Catégorie
Port de Balès, cresting the summit alone. He negotiated the very fast descent without incident, and crossed the line in
Bagnères-de-Luchon with more than a minute over the chasers. In September, Voeckler took the victory in the inaugural running of the
Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec, a new event on the
UCI World Tour calendar. He downplayed his chances in the press in the days before the event citing a lack of form. However, he attacked in the final kilometre to cross the finish line on the
Grande-Allée with a couple of bike lengths over 's
Edvald Boasson Hagen.
2011 at the
2011 Tour de France In 2011, Voeckler enjoyed his finest year as a professional. He recorded eight spring victories prior to the
Tour de France in July, notably taking two stages at
Paris–Nice, and winning the overall classification in the
Four Days of Dunkirk as well as the
Tour du Haut Var. In the ninth stage of the Tour de France, Voeckler led a breakaway, survived a collision caused by a media support car that injured two other riders, and crossed the line second, taking the overall time lead and therefore wearing the yellow jersey (). He held on to the yellow jersey daily from the beginning of Stage 10 onwards, carrying it through all the Pyrenean mountain stages and into the Alps, but he was unable to retain it at the end of Stage 19, the
queen stage finishing at
Alpe d'Huez. Voeckler finished in fourth place in the final general classification, 3 minutes and 20 seconds behind the winner,
Cadel Evans. It was Voeckler's highest final general classification in the Tour, and the highest placing of any Frenchman in the Tour, at the time, since
Christophe Moreau's fourth-place overall finish in
2000. Voeckler's 2011 contract from Team Europcar was worth
€420,000 a year, which made him the second highest-paid French cyclist after
Sylvain Chavanel. His planned switch to was worth almost twice as much, however Voeckler chose to remain at reduced salary with
Jean-René Bernaudeau's team, once it re-found sponsorship for 2011, able to continue his 15-year relationship with the coach. The following Sunday he took a top-five placement in the classic
Amstel Gold Race, and a week later continued his success in the Ardennes with a fourth-place in the final spring classic of the season, the monument
Liège–Bastogne–Liège. Along with other Europcar riders, Voeckler managed to win a stage in the Gabonese
La Tropicale Amissa Bongo race, at the close of April. He started the
Tour de France slowly, suffering from a knee injury and almost abandoning the grand tour, after also abandoning earlier preparation races. However he gathered strength and later won
stage 10, the first mountain stage of the race, including crossing the
hors catégorie climb of the
Col du Grand Colombier in the lead, thus claiming the polka-dot jersey for the
mountains classification lead, which he held for a day. He also prevailed in the queen stage of the race,
stage 16 from Pau to
Bagnères-de-Luchon, which included four huge climbs including the
Col du Tourmalet. Voeckler broke away from the peloton about into the race and was part of a massive 38-man escape bunch. He passed all four
King of the Mountains points locations in the lead, and grabbed the polka-dot jersey once again as well as the victory, dropping his last breakaway companion
Brice Feillu of the squad while ascending the
Col de Peyresourde, the stage's final difficulty. He then charged down the mountain to reach the finish line with a minute and 40 seconds on the nearest chaser. Voeckler subsequently won a classification podium spot in Paris for the first time in his career, by holding the tour's mountain classification jersey from the Pyrenees to the finish.
2013 Voeckler started the Classics season with a good showing in
Dwars door Vlaanderen. He escaped the lead group of riders on the last climb with to race and made a solo bid for the line, but was caught inside the final meters, only to take fifth. Voeckler was clearly heartbroken after such a close call. In the Ardennes Classic
Amstel Gold Race, Voeckler crashed with other favorites, was put on a stretcher and went to the hospital where a broken collarbone was detected. By June Voeckler had rebounded and shown strong form once more, winning stage 6 of the
Critérium du Dauphiné from a breakaway of four despite being outnumbered by two riders. Voeckler continued his winning form by winning the overall titles of the
Route du Sud and the
Tour du Poitou-Charentes.
2014 In January, Voeckler was set to participate to the
Tour Down Under, but he crashed into a car while training in Australia and broke his collarbone. He came back to competition at the
Tour Méditerranéen, then went on to finish 25th in the
Amstel Gold Race and 36th in
Liège–Bastogne–Liège. He then participated to the
Tour de Romandie in April, attacking to no avail in the final of the first stage. On the fourth stage, he took second place after being beaten for the sprint by his breakaway companion
Michael Albasini (). Voeckler finished 21st overall. Voeckler had a significant result in the
Tour de France, finishing second on the stage to Bagnères-de-Luchon behind
Michael Rogers. In August, while he was training, Voeckler hit a car and was injured again, this time dislocating his shoulder. He came back at the
Tour du Doubs, finishing 46th. In October, Voeckler finished second of
Paris–Tours, after being part of the early breakaway. He cooperated well with his breakaway companion
Jelle Wallays until the "last kilometer to go" sign, where Wallays refused to pull and Voeckler was beaten in the two-man sprint. He was so disappointed that he did not go to the podium ceremony, which resulted in a fine and the loss of the €3,770 second-place prize.
2015 Voeckler's 2015 season was relatively quiet, with a fifth place on a stage of the
Tour de France and third in the general classification of the
inaugural Tour de Yorkshire being two of his most notable results.
2016 In February, Voeckler took his first wins since August 2013 when he won the first stage and the general classification at the first edition of the
Tour La Provence. In early May Voeckler took the punishing final stage of the
Tour de Yorkshire, outsprinting
Nicolas Roche in
Scarborough and taking the overall classification. In September 2016, Voeckler announced that he would retire from professional cycling, after the
2017 Tour de France, his fifteenth successive participation in the race. ==Post-racing career==