Sanchez wins 12th TDF stage

Luz Ardiden - Spanish climbing specialist Samuel Sanchez won Thursday's 12th stage of the Tour de France and Thomas Voeckler of France retained the overall lead as the race entered the high mountains for the first time.

After a string of setbacks earlier in the race, defending champion Alberto Contador struggled up the main climb and lost crucial seconds to other pre-race favourites for the overall victory.

The 211km trek from Cugnaux to the Luz-Ardiden ski station featured three tough climbs in the Pyrenees - including two that are among the hardest in professional cycling.

Sanchez and Belgian rider Jelle Vanendert overtook a group of breakaway riders in the final climb and held on, with the Spaniard winning their two-man sprint in the last several hundred meters (yards). Vanendert crossed 7 seconds later.

"It's incredible," Sanchez said of his first Tour stage win, after finishing fourth overall last year.

After leading a string of attacks on the other pre-race favourites, Frank Schleck of Luxembourg surged away and finished third - 10 seconds back - to vault into second place overall.

Italy's Ivan Basso was fourth, Cadel Evans of Australia was fifth, and Schleck's younger brother Andy was sixth, each 30 seconds behind Sanchez. Contador came eighth, 43 seconds back.

Voeckler gave the home crowd a delight for France's national Bastille Day holiday, clinging to the yellow jersey that he had expected to lose in the punishing climbs.

"I'm glad I was wrong," Voeckler said, with a smile. "It clearly wasn't expected. Keeping the jersey was far from expected as the stage started today."

"You have to believe that the yellow jersey gives you a bit of added inspiration on the Bastille Day," he added.

Overall, Voeckler leads Frank Schleck by 1 minutes, 49 seconds, and Evans trails third, 2:06 back.

Contador is seventh overall, 4 minutes behind.

"I was a bit careful," the three-time Tour champion said. "I saw the Schlecks were discussing together and that they were going to play their cards. Frank was the stronger - and both of them attacked."

"But I'm nevertheless happy with this first mountain stage," Contador said. "Each day, I feel better ... I still don't have my best legs. I'm not riding with the same rhythm, but it's encouraging."

Results of the 12th stage of the Tour de France, a 211km ride from Cugnaux to Luz Ardiden on Thursday:

1. Samuel Sanchez (ESP/EUS) 6hr 01min 15sec
2. Jelle Vanendert (BEL/OLO) at 0:07sec
3. Frank Schleck (LUX/LEO) 0:10
4. Ivan Basso (ITA/LIQ) 0:30
5. Cadel Evans (AUS/BMC) 0:30
6. Andy Schleck (LUX/LEO) 0:30
7. Damiano Cunego (ITA/LAM) 0:35
8. Alberto Contador (ESP/SAX) 0:43
9. Thomas Voeckler (FRA/EUC) 0:50
10. Pierre Rolland (FRA/EUC) 0:50
11. Tom Danielson (USA/GRM) 1:03
12. Arnold Jeannesson (FRA/FDJ) 1:19
13. Rigoberto Uran (COL/SKY) 1:25
14. Levi Leipheimer (USA/RSH) 1:25
15. Hubert Dupont (FRA/ALM) 1:56
16. Yury Trofimov (RUS/KAT) 1:56
17. Nicolas Roche (EIR/ALM) 2:02
18. Laurens ten Dam (NED/RAB) 2:10
19. Kevin De Weert (BEL/QST) 2:10
20. Haimar Zubeldia (ESP/RSH) 2:53
21. Jerome Coppel (FRA/SAU) 3:06
22. Chris Anker Sorensen (DEN/SAX) 3:06
23. Vladimir Gusev (RUS/KAT) 3:08
24. Philippe Gilbert (BEL/OLO) 3:19
25. Rein Taaramae (EST/COF) 3:25
26. Jean Christophe Peraud (FRA/ALM) 3:38
27. Sandy Casar (FRA/FDJ) 3:54
28. David Moncouti (FRA/COF) 3:55
29. Ryder Hesjedal (CAN/GRM) 3:57
30. Jonathan Hivert (FRA/SAU) 3:58
31. Peter Velits (SVK/HTC) 4:15
32. Christophe Riblon (FRA/ALM) 4:15
33. Gorka Verdugo (ESP/EUS) 4:21
34. Andrej Zeits (KAZ/AST) 4:23
35. Vladimir Karpets (RUS/KAT) 4:57
36. Geraint Thomas (GBR/SKY) 5:20
37. Sylvester Szmyd (POL/LIQ) 5:20
38. Rob Ruijgh (NED/VAC) 6:13
39. Steve Morabito (SWI/BMC) 7:06
40. Thomas De Gen (BEL/VAC) 7:06
41. David Arroyo (ESP/MOV) 7:34
42. Xavier Zandio (ESP/SKY) 7:34
43. Daniel Navarro (ESP/SAX) 7:34
44. Andreas Kloden (GER/RSH) 8:26
45. Yannick Talabardon (FRA/SAU) 8:26
46. Maxime Monfort (BEL/LEO) 8:26
47. Jeremy Roy (FRA/FDJ) 8:56
48. Tony Martin (GER/HTC) 9:03
49. Cyril Gautier (FRA/EUC) 9:03
50. Egoi Martinez (ESP/EUS) 9:56
51. Jakob Diemer Fuglsang (DEN/LEO) 10:04
52. Jerome Pineau (FRA/QST) 10:12
53. Christian Vande Velde (USA/GRM) 10:20
54. Remy Di Gregorio (FRA/AST) 11:13
55. Julien El Fares (FRA/COF) 11:13
56. Jesus Hernandez (ESP/SAX) 13:16
57. Maxime Bouet (FRA/ALM) 13:47
58. Ruben Perez Moreno (ESP/EUS) 14:54
59. Gorka Izagirre (ESP/EUS) 14:54
60. Sylvain Chavanel (FRA/QST) 15:03
61. Alan Perez Lezaun (ESP/EUS) 15:03
62. Laurent Mangel (FRA/SAU) 15:51
63. Matteo Bono (ITA/LAM) 16:17
64. David Loosli (SWI/LAM) 16:17
65. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/HTC) 16:17
66. Anthony Charteau (FRA/EUC) 16:17
67. Richie Porte (AUS/SAX) 17:25
68. Linus Gerdemann (GER/LEO) 17:28
69. Jens Voigt (GER/LEO) 17:28
70. George Hincapie (USA/BMC) 17:28
71. Amael Moinard (FRA/BMC) 17:28
72. Ivan Santaromita (ITA/BMC) 17:28
73. Roman Kreuziger (CZE/AST) 17:28
74. Luis Leon Sanchez (ESP/RAB) 17:28
75. Sergio Paulinho (POR/RSH) 17:28
76. Grischa Niermann (GER/RAB) 17:44
77. Robert Gesink (NED/RAB) 17:44
78. Carlos Barredo (ESP/RAB) 17:44
79. Niki Terpstra (NED/QST) 17:44
80. Paolo Tiralongo (ITA/AST) 17:44
81. Tony Gallopin (FRA/COF) 17:44
82. Markel Irizar (ESP/RSH) 17:44
83. Michael Buffaz (FRA/COF) 17:44
84. Christian Knees (GER/SKY) 17:49
85. Blel Kadri (FRA/ALM) 18:03
86. Addy Engels (NED/QST) 19:04
87. Ivan Gutierrez (ESP/MOV) 19:16
88. Marco Marcato (ITA/VAC) 21:05
89. Dries Devenyns (BEL/QST) 21:10
90. Arthur Vichot (FRA/FDJ) 21:12
91. Anthony Roux (FRA/FDJ) 21:12
92. Stuart O'Grady (AUS/LEO) 21:21
93. Johnny Hoogerland (NED/VAC) 24:26
94. Jurgen Roelandts (BEL/OLO) 24:30
95. Fabio-Leonardo Duque (COL/COF) 24:37
96. Sebastian Lang (GER/OLO) 33:05
97. Jimmy Engoulvent (FRA/SAU) 33:05
98. Jose Joaquin Rojas (ESP/MOV) 33:05
99. Francisco Ventoso (ESP/MOV) 33:05
100. Sebastien Turgot (FRA/EUC) 33:05
101. Grega Bole (SLO/LAM) 33:05
102. Benjamin Noval (ESP/SAX) 33:05
103. Tristan Valentin (FRA/COF) 33:05
104. Joost Posthuma (NED/LEO) 33:05
105. Paolo Longo Borghini (ITA/LIQ) 33:05
106. Simon Gerrans (AUS/SKY) 33:05
107. Alessandro Petacchi (ITA/LAM) 33:05
108. Kristjan Koren (SLO/LIQ) 33:05
109. Perrig Quemeneur (FRA/EUC) 33:05
110. Denys Kostyuk (UKR/LAM) 33:05
111. Andre Greipel (GER/OLO) 33:05
112. Anthony Delaplace (FRA/SAU) 33:05
113. Jeremie Galland (FRA/SAU) 33:05
114. Andriy Grivko (UKR/AST) 33:05
115. Michael Schar (SWI/BMC) 33:05
116. Daniel Oss (ITA/LIQ) 33:05
117. Fabio Sabatini (ITA/LIQ) 33:05
118. Manuel Quinziato (ITA/BMC) 33:05
119. Romain Zingle (BEL/COF) 33:05
120. Dmitriy Fofonov (KAZ/AST) 33:05
121. Fabian Cancellara (SWI/LEO) 33:05
122. Adriano Malori (ITA/LAM) 33:05
123. Maciej Bodnar (POL/LIQ) 33:05
124. Marcel Sieberg (GER/OLO) 33:05
125. Imanol Erviti (ESP/MOV) 33:05
126. Matteo Tosatto (ITA/SAX) 33:05
127. Maciej Paterski (POL/LIQ) 33:05
128. Danilo Hondo (GER/LAM) 33:05
129. Brian Vandborg (DEN/SAX) 33:05
130. Maxim Iglinskiy (KAZ/AST) 33:05
131. Egor Silin (RUS/KAT) 33:05
132. Ramunas Navardauskas (LTU/GRM) 33:05
133. Lieuwe Westra (NED/VAC) 33:05
134. Brent Bookwalter (USA/BMC) 33:05
135. Bjorn Leukemans (BEL/VAC) 33:05
136. Alessandro Vanotti (ITA/LIQ) 33:05
137. Tyler Farrar (USA/GRM) 33:05
138. Dmitry Muravyev (KAZ/RSH) 33:05
139. Ben Swift (ENG/SKY) 33:05
140. Yohann Gene (FRA/EUC) 33:05
141. Lars Ytting Bak (DEN/HTC) 33:05
142. Danny Pate (USA/HTC) 33:05
143. Audrey Amador (CRC/MOV) 33:05
144. Maartens Tjallingii (NED/RAB) 33:05
145. Matthew Goss (AUS/HTC) 33:05
146. Nicki Sorensen (DEN/SAX) 33:05
147. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR/SKY) 33:05
148. David Millar (GBR/GRM) 33:05
149. Mark Renshaw (AUS/HTC) 33:05
150. Juan Antonio Flecha (ESP/SKY) 33:05
151. Tomas Vaitkus (LTU/AST) 33:05
152. Mikhail Ignatiev (RUS/KAT) 33:05
153. Mark Cavendish (IDM/HTC) 33:05
154. Gianni Meersman (BEL/FDJ) 33:05
155. Fabrice Jeandesboz (FRA/SAU) 33:05
156. Leonardo Bertagnolli (ITA/LAM) 33:05
157. Gert Steegmans (BEL/QST) 33:05
158. Mickael Delage (FRA/FDJ) 33:05
159. Sebastien Minard (FRA/ALM) 33:05
160. Vladimir Isaichev (RUS/KAT) 33:05
161. Bauke Mollema (NED/RAB) 33:05
162. Sebastien Hinault (FRA/ALM) 33:05
163. Rui Costa (POR/MOV) 33:05
164. Arnaud Coyot (FRA/SAU) 33:05
165. Pablo Urtasun (ESP/EUS) 33:05
166. Julian Dean (NZL/GRM) 33:05
167. Gerald Ciolek (GER/QST) 33:05
168. Bernhard Eisel (AUT/HTC) 33:05
169. Samuel Dumoulin (FRA/COF) 33:05
170. Marcus Burghardt (GER/BMC) 33:05
171. Vincent Jerome (FRA/EUC) 33:05
172. William Bonnet (FRA/FDJ) 33:05
173. Thor Hushovd (NOR/GRM) 33:05
174. Lars Boom (NED/RAB) 33:05
175. Borut Bozic (SLO/VAC) 33:05