Voeckler wins 16th TDF stage

The Frenchman, fourth overall last year, took advantage of the four classic climbs on the 197km stage from Pau to drop the members of a 38-man breakaway one by one and bag the fourth Tour stage of his career.

The Aubisque, Tourmalet, Aspin and Peyresourde mountain passes were too much to handle for defending champion Cadel Evans, who lost ground on the last two climbs and crossed the finish line nearly 12 minutes behind Voeckler.

The Australian now lies eighth overall, 8:06 behind Bradley Wiggins, who firmly held on to his leader's yellow jersey.

"It's over for the Tour victory," said Evans's BMC team manager Jim Ochowicz.

Briton Wiggins was twice taunted by Italy's Vincenzo Nibali in the Peyresourde ascent but bridged the gap easily with the help of team mate Chris Froome.

The three rode the finale side by side and are likely to be the three riders on the final podium in Paris on Sunday.

Overall, Wiggins leads Froome by 2:05 while Nibali is still third, 2:23 behind.

Thursday's 143.5km 17th stage, finishing uphill in the ski resort of Peyragudes, will be the last chance for Wiggins's rivals to try to topple him.

Wednesday's stage started without Luxembourg's Frank Schleck, ruled out of the Tour by his RadioShack-Nissan team after failing a dope test for a diuretic. 

Results from the 16th stage of Tour de France a 197km ride from Pau to Luchon on Wednesday:

1. Thomas Voeckler (FRA/EUC) 5h35min 02sec
2. Chris Anker Sorensen (DEN/SAX) at 1:40.
3. Gorka Izagirre (ESP/EUS) 3:22.
4. Alexander Vinokourov (KAZ/AST) 3:22.
5. Brice Feillu (FRA/SAU) 3:58.
6. Jens Voigt (GER/RSH) 4:18.
7. Daniel Martin (IRL/GRM) 6:08.
8. Simone Stortoni (ITA/LAM) 6:08.
9. Giampaolo Caruso (ITA/KAT) 6:08.
10. Laurens ten Dam (NED/RAB) 6:11.
11. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/LIQ) 7:09.
12. Bradley Wiggins (GBR/SKY) 7:09.
13. Chris Froome (GBR/SKY) 7:09.
14. Nicolas Roche (IRL/ALM) 8:07.
15. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/BMC) 8:07.
16. Jurgen Van den Broeck (BEL/LTB) 8:07.
17. Haimar Zubeldia (ESP/RSH) 8:07.
18. Alejandro Valverde (ESP/MOV) 8:07.
19. Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (ESP/MOV) 8:07.
20. Chris Horner (USA/RSH) 8:07.
21. Janez Brajkovic (SLO/AST) 8:48.
22. Pierre Rolland (FRA/EUC) 8:48.
23. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/FDJ) 10:01.
24. Egoi Martinez (ESP/EUS) 10:46.
25. Jelle Vanendert (BEL/LTB) 10:46.
26. Christophe Kern (FRA/EUC) 10:46.
27. Maxime Monfort (BEL/RSH) 10:54.
28. Denis Menchov (RUS/KAT) 10:54.
29. Eduard Vorganov (RUS/KAT) 10:54.
30. Rui Costa (POR/MOV) 10:54.
31. Richie Porte (AUS/SKY) 10:54.
32. Marco Marzano (ITA/LAM) 10:54.
33. Andreas Kloden (GER/RSH) 10:54.
34. Levi Leipheimer (USA/OPQ) 10:54.
35. Cadel Evans (AUS/BMC) 11:56.
36. George Hincapie (USA/BMC) 11:56.
37. Andriy Grivko (UKR/AST) 11:56.
38. Amal Moinard (FRA/BMC) 11:56.
39. Andre Kashechkin (KAZ/AST) 11:56.
40. Johnny Hoogerland (NED/VAC) 11:56.
41. Rafael Valls (ESP/VAC) 11:56.
42. Steven Kruijswijk (NED/RAB) 11:56.
43. Pablo Urtasun (ESP/EUS) 11:56.
44. Ivan Basso (ITA/LIQ) 14:07.
45. Fredrik Kessiakoff (SWE/AST) 14:17.
46. Sandy Casar (FRA/FDJ) 15:17.
47. Vladimir Karpets (RUS/MOV) 15:17.
48. Dominik Nerz (GER/LIQ) 15:17.
49. Jorge Azanza (ESP/EUS) 15:17.
50. Fabrice Jeandesboz (FRA/SAU) 15:54.
51. Jrome Coppel (FRA/SAU) 15:54.
52. Mathieu Sprick (FRA/ARG) 15:54.
53. Marcus Burghardt (GER/BMC) 16:38.
54. Sergio Paulinho (POR/SAX) 18:01.
55. Rein Taaramae (EST/COF) 18:01.
56. Stephen Cummings (GBR/BMC) 20:25.
57. Michael Rogers (AUS/SKY) 20:25.
58. Dries Devenyns (BEL/OPQ) 20:25.
59. Rubn Plaza (ESP/MOV) 21:17.
60. Vasil Kiryienka (BLR/MOV) 21:17.
61. Davide Malacarne (ITA/EUC) 21:31.
62. Cedric Pineau (FRA/FDJ) 22:14.
63. Jean-Marc Marino (FRA/SAU) 22:15.
64. Michael Morkov (DEN/SAX) 22:15.
65. Stuart O'Grady (AUS/GEC) 22:15.
66. Christian Vande Velde (USA/GRM) 22:15.
67. Adam Hansen (AUS/LTB) 22:15.
68. Peter Velits (SVK/OPQ) 22:15.
69. Kevin De Weert (BEL/OPQ) 22:15.
70. Michael Schr (SUI/BMC) 22:15.
71. Guillaume Levarlet (FRA/SAU) 22:15.
72. Pierrick Fedrigo (FRA/FDJ) 22:15.
73. Peter Sagan (SVK/LIQ) 22:15.
74. Yukiya Arashiro (JPN/EUC) 22:15.
75. Christian Knees (GER/SKY) 22:15.
76. Yury Trofimov (RUS/KAT) 22:15.
77. Yann Huguet (FRA/ARG) 22:15.
78. Maxime Bouet (FRA/ALM) 24:57.
79. Danilo Hondo (GER/LAM) 26:20.
80. Daniel Oss (ITA/LIQ) 27:33.
81. Koen de Kort (NED/ARG) 27:33.
82. Francis de Greef (BEL/LTB) 27:33.
83. Matthew Goss (AUS/GEC) 27:33.
84. Yaroslav Popovych (UKR/RSH) 27:33.
85. Simon Gerrans (AUS/GEC) 27:33.
86. Romain Zingle (BEL/COF) 27:33.
87. Philippe Gilbert (BEL/BMC) 27:33.
88. Alessandro Vanotti (ITA/LIQ) 27:33.
89. Anthony Roux (FRA/FDJ) 27:33.
90. Federico Canuti (ITA/LIQ) 27:33.
91. Dmitriy Fofonov (KAZ/AST) 27:33.
92. Jean Christophe Peraud (FRA/ALM) 27:33.
93. Jeremy Roy (FRA/FDJ) 27:33.
94. Ruben Perez Moreno (ESP/EUS) 27:33.
95. Samuel Dumoulin (FRA/COF) 27:33.
96. Sbastien Minard (FRA/ALM) 27:33.
97. Nick Nuyens (BEL/SAX) 27:33.
98. Nicki Sorensen (DEN/SAX) 27:33.
99. Jrme Pineau (FRA/OPQ) 27:33.
100. Michael Albasini (SUI/GEC) 27:33.
101. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR/SKY) 27:33.
102. Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA/FDJ) 27:33.
103. Johan Van Summeren (BEL/GRM) 27:33.
104. Roy Curvers (NED/ARG) 27:33.
105. Albert Timmer (NED/ARG) 27:33.
106. Sylvester Szmyd (POL/LIQ) 27:33.
107. Marco Marcato (ITA/VAC) 27:33.
108. Luis Leon Sanchez (ESP/RAB) 27:33.
109. Joan Horrach (ESP/KAT) 27:33.
110. Borut Bozic (SLO/AST) 27:33.
111. Kris Boeckmans (BEL/VAC) 27:33.
112. Luca Paolini (ITA/KAT) 27:54.
113. Manuel Quinziato (ITA/BMC) 27:54.
114. Sbastian Langeveld (NED/GEC) 30:11.
115. Bram Tankink (NED/RAB) 30:11.
116. David Zabriskie (USA/GRM) 30:11.
117. Cyril Gautier (FRA/EUC) 30:38.
118. Mickal Cherel (FRA/ALM) 30:38.
119. Anders Lund (DEN/SAX) 30:38.
120. Christophe Riblon (FRA/ALM) 30:38.
121. Blel Kadri (FRA/ALM) 30:38.
122. Yohann Gene (FRA/EUC) 30:38.
123. Andr Greipel (GER/LTB) 33:04.
124. Kristjan Koren (SLO/LIQ) 33:04.
125. Cyril Lemoine (FRA/SAU) 33:04.
126. Martin Velits (SVK/OPQ) 33:04.
127. Marcel Sieberg (GER/LTB) 33:04.
128. Baden Cooke (AUS/GEC) 33:04.
129. Julien Simon (FRA/SAU) 33:04.
130. Jonathan Cantwell (AUS/SAX) 33:04.
131. Jimmy Engoulvent (FRA/SAU) 33:04.
132. Tyler Farrar (USA/GRM) 33:04.
133. David Millar (GBR/GRM) 33:04.
134. Mark Cavendish (GBR/SKY) 33:04.
135. Luis ngel Mat (ESP/COF) 33:04.
136. Michele Scarponi (ITA/LAM) 33:04.
137. Bert Grabsch (GER/OPQ) 33:04.
138. Patrick Gretsch (GER/ARG) 33:04.
139. Nicolas Edet (FRA/COF) 33:04.
140. Arthur Vichot (FRA/FDJ) 33:04.
141. Pieter Weening (NED/GEC) 33:04.
142. Greg Henderson (NZL/LTB) 33:04.
143. Daryl Impey (RSA/GEC) 33:04.
144. Julien Fouchard (FRA/COF) 33:04.
145. Maxim Iglinskiy (KAZ/AST) 33:04.
146. Lars Ytting Bak (DEN/LTB) 33:04.
147. Aliaksandr Kuschynski (BLR/KAT) 33:04.
148. Bernhard Eisel (AUT/SKY) 33:04.
149. Juan Jos Haedo (ARG/SAX) 33:04.
150. Karsten Kroon (NED/SAX) 33:04.
151. Sbastien Hinault (FRA/ALM) 33:52.
152. Jrgen Roelandts (BEL/LTB) 33:52.
. Vladimir Gusev (RUS/KAT) Retired
. Frank Schleck (LUX/RSH) Withdrawn