July 18, 2004
Voeckler Holds Yellow for one more day
After Lance came in 2nd in the prologue and the Posties came in 1st in the team time trial it was time for him to sit back and let the sprinters do the attacking while his team waited for their time.
The surprise of the tour has been young Frenchmen Thomas Voeckler (above in the leaders yellow) who has been a delightful surprise with this fierce tenacity and strong willpower. In stage thirteen while Lance was taking the lead and eventually winning the stage Voeckler held on to his lead and the yellow jersey buy a mere twenty two seconds. Which if you had watched the stage was no small feat as he continually fell behind on each climb but fought his way back into the peleton.
Pending some breakdown of Lance or the Posties he will get his sixth win, however the impressive riding of Thomas Voeckler cannot be overlooked as one of the finest performances this tour.