France’s Voeckler retains yellow jersey at Tour de France

PLATEAU DE BEILLE, France – French cyclist Thomas Voeckler retained the lead of the Tour de France on Saturday after the last stage in the Pyrenees, which was won by Jelle Vanendert of Belgium and failed to be as significant as expected for the main contenders.

Vanendert clinched the 14th stage – the first Tour stage win of his career – after finishing 21 seconds ahead of Samuel Sanchez of Spain and 46 seconds in front of third-place Andy Schleck of Luxembourg.

“I never imagined this would happen to me on my first Tour de France,” Vanendert said. “I have been feeling good in the mountains.”

The contenders were expected to launch attacks in the most grueling stage of the Pyrenees so far, which featured a 10-mile climb to Plateau de Beille, but Schleck only gained 2 seconds on defending champion Alberto Contador and Cadel Evans despite several attempts from the two-time runner-up Schleck.

Evans crossed the line fourth ahead of Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran and Contador. They all were 48 seconds behind Vanendert.

“It wasn’t possible to make a big difference, I need a steeper stage than this,” said Schleck, who rides for the Leopard Trek team with his older brother Frank.

Voeckler is 1 minute, 49 seconds ahead of Frank Schleck, 2:06 clear of Evans, 2:15 ahead of Andy Schleck and 4:00 in front of Contador, who is seventh behind Sanchez and Italy’s Ivan Basso.

“I’m not interested who is stronger than who,” Voeckler said. “My objective was to keep the jersey.”

Voeckler keeps predicting he will lose the yellow jersey and is stunned by his impressive form.

“It’s hard for me to believe that I’m in yellow after the Pyrenees,” he said. “It’s like a dream.”

Contador praised Voeckler’s effort, but does not expect him to keep going at this rate for much longer.

“We know he’s a great rider, but if he ever cracks one day he will really lose a lot of time,” Contador said.