Voeckler wins 10th TDF stage

Bellegarde-sur-Valserine - Britain's Bradley Wiggins retained the yellow jersey on the first day of the Tour de France in the Alps Wednesday as France's Thomas Voeckler won the 10th stage.

Voeckler, of the Europcar team, capped an impressive game of cat and mouse with several rivals in the closing kilometres of the stage to claim his first victory of this year's race and third of his career.

Italian Michele Scarponi (Lampre) at 3sec was second with German veteran Jens Voigt (RadioShack) third at 7.

Wiggins retained his 1min 53sec overnight lead on BMC leader Cadel Evans, with Sky teammate Chris Froome still third overall at 2:07 and Italian Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) at 2:23.

Nibali was one of two riders along with Jurgen Van den Broeck to try and attack Wiggins, on the descent of the Grand Colombier climb.

His Sky team, however, set a pace that quickly reeled the Italian in before the final, short climb to the summit of the Col de Richemond.

"I didn't panic when he attacked," said Wiggins.

"He's over two minutes behind me and I knew he'd have to be really strong in the valley if he was to stay away."

Voeckler, who almost pulled out of the race just after the start because of tendinitis in his knee, was among a 25-man breakaway that attacked early in the stage.

As the demands of the climbs took a steady toll on the frontrunners, the 33-year-old Frenchman, who finished fourth in last year's race after wearing yellow for 10 days, was among a far smaller group that managed to stay out at the front and build a five-minute lead on the peloton.

A late counter-attack by Voigt threatened to steal Voeckler's thunder, especially when the German went off in pursuit of Dries Devenyns of the Omega-Pharma team after the Belgian attacked with 3.5km to race.

But on the small rise leading to the finish line Voeckler somehow found the strength to leave breakaway rivals Scarponi and Luis Leon Sanchez in his wake to overtake both Voigt and Devenyns.

"I really didn't think I would win the stage until I was about five metres from the finish line," said a beaming Voeckler.

Thursday's 148km 11th stage takes the peloton from Albertville over 73km of climbing to the summit of La Toussuire ski station.

Results after the 10th stage of the Tour de France, a 194.5km ride from Macon to Bellegarde-sur-Valserine on Wednesday:

1. Thomas Voeckler (FRA/EUC) 4hr 46min 26sec
(average speed: 40.7 km/h)
2. Michele Scarponi (ITA/LAM) at 0:03sec
3. Jens Voigt (GER/RSH) 0:07.
4. Luis Leon Sanchez (ESP/RAB) 0:23.
5. Dries Devenyns (BEL/OPQ) 0:30.
6. Sandy Casar (FRA/FDJ) 2min 44sec
7. Egoi Martinez (ESP/EUS) 2:44.
8. Pierre Rolland (FRA/EUC) 2:44.
9. Jurgen Van den Broeck (BEL/LTB) 2:44.
10. Dmitriy Fofonov (KAZ/AST) 2:52.
11. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/FDJ) 3:16.
12. Cadel Evans (AUS/BMC) 3:16.
13. Bradley Wiggins (GBR/SKY) 3:16.
14. Nicolas Roche (IRL/ALM) 3:16.
15. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/LIQ) 3:16.
16. Denis Menchov (RUS/KAT) 3:16.
17. Alejandro Valverde (ESP/MOV) 3:16.
18. Chris Froome (GBR/SKY) 3:16.
19. Rui Costa (POR/MOV) 3:16.
20. Jrome Coppel (FRA/SAU) 3:16.
21. Maxime Monfort (BEL/RSH) 3:16.
22. Janez Brajkovic (SLO/AST) 3:16.
23. Haimar Zubeldia (ESP/RSH) 3:16.
24. Andreas Kloden (GER/RSH) 3:16.
25. Rein Taaramae (EST/COF) 3:16.
26. Frank Schleck (LUX/RSH) 3:16.
27. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/BMC) 3:33.
28. Laurens ten Dam (NED/RAB) 3:40.
29. Robert Kiserlovski (CRO/AST) 3:40.
30. Rafael Valls (ESP/VAC) 3:40.
31. Levi Leipheimer (USA/OPQ) 3:40.
32. Richie Porte (AUS/SKY) 3:40.
33. Ivan Basso (ITA/LIQ) 3:40.
34. Chris Horner (USA/RSH) 3:54.
35. Andriy Grivko (UKR/AST) 4:06.
36. Marcus Burghardt (GER/BMC) 4:24.
37. Jelle Vanendert (BEL/LTB) 8:16.
38. Chris Anker Sorensen (DEN/SAX) 9:07.
39. Fabrice Jeandesboz (FRA/SAU) 9:07.
40. Michael Rogers (AUS/SKY) 9:07.
41. Jean Christophe Peraud (FRA/ALM) 9:07.
42. Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA/FDJ) 9:07.
43. Alexander Vinokourov (KAZ/AST) 9:07.
44. Giampaolo Caruso (ITA/KAT) 9:07.
45. Yury Trofimov (RUS/KAT) 9:07.
46. Steven Kruijswijk (NED/RAB) 11:41.
47. Philippe Gilbert (BEL/BMC) 11:41.
48. Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (ESP/MOV) 11:41.
49. George Hincapie (USA/BMC) 11:41.
50. Amal Moinard (FRA/BMC) 11:41.
51. Michael Morkov (DEN/SAX) 11:41.
52. Stephen Cummings (GBR/BMC) 11:41.
53. Eduard Vorganov (RUS/KAT) 11:41.
54. David Zabriskie (USA/GRM) 11:41.
55. Yaroslav Popovych (UKR/RSH) 11:41.
56. Peter Sagan (SVK/LIQ) 12:25.
57. Marco Marzano (ITA/LAM) 15:04.
58. Sylvester Szmyd (POL/LIQ) 15:04.
59. David Millar (GBR/GRM) 15:04.
60. Simon Gerrans (AUS/GEC) 15:04.
61. Dominik Nerz (GER/LIQ) 15:04.
62. Peter Velits (SVK/OPQ) 15:04.
63. Guillaume Levarlet (FRA/SAU) 15:04.
64. David Moncouti (FRA/COF) 15:04.
65. Vladimir Karpets (RUS/MOV) 15:04.
66. Vladimir Gusev (RUS/KAT) 15:04.
67. Brice Feillu (FRA/SAU) 15:04.
68. Simone Stortoni (ITA/LAM) 15:04.
69. Robert Gesink (NED/RAB) 15:04.
70. Karsten Kroon (NED/SAX) 15:04.
71. Johnny Hoogerland (NED/VAC) 15:04.
72. Sergio Paulinho (POR/SAX) 15:04.
73. Yukiya Arashiro (JPN/EUC) 15:04.
74. Alessandro Vanotti (ITA/LIQ) 17:26.
75. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR/SKY) 17:26.
76. Maxime Bouet (FRA/ALM) 19:05.
77. Marco Marcato (ITA/VAC) 19:05.
78. Davide Malacarne (ITA/EUC) 19:05.
79. Yauheni Hutarovich (BLR/FDJ) 19:05.
80. Jrme Pineau (FRA/OPQ) 19:05.
81. Sylvain Chavanel (FRA/OPQ) 19:05.
82. Arthur Vichot (FRA/FDJ) 19:05.
83. Jeremy Roy (FRA/FDJ) 19:05.
84. Giovanni Bernaudeau (FRA/EUC) 19:05.
85. Sbastien Minard (FRA/ALM) 19:05.
86. Christophe Riblon (FRA/ALM) 19:05.
87. Joan Horrach (ESP/KAT) 19:05.
88. Pierrick Fedrigo (FRA/FDJ) 19:05.
89. Christian Vande Velde (USA/GRM) 19:05.
90. Daniel Martin (IRL/GRM) 19:05.
91. Michael Schr (SUI/BMC) 19:05.
92. Anthony Roux (FRA/FDJ) 27:27.
93. Koen de Kort (NED/ARG) 27:27.
94. Martin Velits (SVK/OPQ) 27:27.
95. Bram Tankink (NED/RAB) 27:27.
96. Alessandro Petacchi (ITA/LAM) 27:27.
97. Francis de Greef (BEL/LTB) 27:27.
98. Kristjan Koren (SLO/LIQ) 27:27.
99. Fredrik Kessiakoff (SWE/AST) 27:27.
100. Cedric Pineau (FRA/FDJ) 27:27.
101. Roy Curvers (NED/ARG) 27:27.
102. Manuel Quinziato (ITA/BMC) 27:27.
103. Danilo Hondo (GER/LAM) 27:27.
104. Yuriy Krivtsov (UKR/LAM) 27:27.
105. Federico Canuti (ITA/LIQ) 27:27.
106. Adam Hansen (AUS/LTB) 27:27.
107. Stuart O'Grady (AUS/GEC) 27:27.
108. Nicki Sorensen (DEN/SAX) 27:27.
109. Fabian Cancellara (SUI/RSH) 27:27.
110. Anders Lund (DEN/SAX) 27:27.
111. Albert Timmer (NED/ARG) 27:27.
112. Yann Huguet (FRA/ARG) 27:27.
113. Lieuwe Westra (NED/VAC) 27:27.
114. Luis ngel Mat (ESP/COF) 27:27.
115. Samuel Dumoulin (FRA/COF) 27:27.
116. Nicolas Edet (FRA/COF) 27:27.
117. Jorge Azanza (ESP/EUS) 27:27.
118. Ruben Perez Moreno (ESP/EUS) 27:27.
119. Lars Ytting Bak (DEN/LTB) 27:27.
120. Daniel Oss (ITA/LIQ) 27:27.
121. Jonathan Cantwell (AUS/SAX) 27:27.
122. Christian Knees (GER/SKY) 27:27.
123. Matthew Goss (AUS/GEC) 27:27.
124. Andr Greipel (GER/LTB) 27:27.
125. Jrgen Roelandts (BEL/LTB) 27:27.
126. Maxim Iglinskiy (KAZ/AST) 27:27.
127. Vasil Kiryienka (BLR/MOV) 27:27.
128. Vincent Jrme (FRA/EUC) 27:27.
129. Cyril Gautier (FRA/EUC) 27:27.
130. Mickal Cherel (FRA/ALM) 27:27.
131. Borut Bozic (SLO/AST) 27:27.
132. Andre Kashechkin (KAZ/AST) 27:27.
133. Christophe Kern (FRA/EUC) 27:27.
134. Yohann Gene (FRA/EUC) 27:27.
135. Cyril Lemoine (FRA/SAU) 27:27.
136. Luca Paolini (ITA/KAT) 27:27.
137. Kris Boeckmans (BEL/VAC) 27:27.
138. Bert Grabsch (GER/OPQ) 31:55.
139. Michael Albasini (SUI/GEC) 31:55.
140. Juan Jos Haedo (ARG/SAX) 31:55.
141. Marcel Sieberg (GER/LTB) 31:55.
142. Mathieu Sprick (FRA/ARG) 31:55.
143. Patrick Gretsch (GER/ARG) 31:55.
144. Julien Fouchard (FRA/COF) 31:55.
145. Brett Lancaster (AUS/GEC) 31:55.
146. Tyler Farrar (USA/GRM) 31:55.
147. Kenny van Hummel (NED/VAC) 31:55.
148. Tom Veelers (NED/ARG) 31:55.
149. Sbastien Hinault (FRA/ALM) 31:55.
150. Blel Kadri (FRA/ALM) 31:55.
151. Daryl Impey (RSA/GEC) 31:55.
152. Nick Nuyens (BEL/SAX) 31:55.
153. Rob Ruijgh (NED/VAC) 31:55.
154. Kevin De Weert (BEL/OPQ) 31:55.
155. Bauke Mollema (NED/RAB) 31:55.
156. Julien Simon (FRA/SAU) 31:55.
157. Gustav Erik Larsson (SWE/VAC) 31:55.
158. Mark Renshaw (AUS/RAB) 31:55.
159. Pablo Urtasun (ESP/EUS) 31:55.
160. Jimmy Engoulvent (FRA/SAU) 31:55.
161. Pieter Weening (NED/GEC) 31:55.
162. Mark Cavendish (GBR/SKY) 31:55.
163. Aliaksandr Kuschynski (BLR/KAT) 31:55.
164. Jan Ghyselinck (BEL/COF) 31:55.
165. Bernhard Eisel (AUT/SKY) 31:55.
166. Grega Bole (SLO/LAM) 31:55.
167. Greg Henderson (NZL/LTB) 31:55.
168. Rubn Plaza (ESP/MOV) 31:55.
169. Baden Cooke (AUS/GEC) 31:55.
170. Romain Zingle (BEL/COF) 31:55.
171. Jean-Marc Marino (FRA/SAU) 31:55.
172. Tony Gallopin (FRA/RSH) 31:55.
173. Johan Van Summeren (BEL/GRM) 31:55.
174. Sebastian Langeveld (NED/GEC) 31:55.
175. Gorka Izagirre (ESP/EUS) 31:55.

Did not start:

Matthew Lloyd (AUS/LAM)
Remy Di Gregorio (FRA/COF)
Tony Martin (GER/OPQ)