The Europcar team enjoyed a fairy tale on the 2011 Tour de France, with a new adventure in yellow for Thomas Voeckler. However, on the stage to Alpe-d’Huez, the team captain started to flag on the climb up the Col du Galibier pass and had to resign himself to a slide down the general classification. On the day’s finale, his young team-mate Pierre Rolland had a free rein and hungrily tucked in to the assault on the 21 switchbacks of the final climb. Riding especially strongly, he found himself in the esteemed company of the elite climbers Samuel Sánchez and Alberto Contador and managed to surprise them and leave them trailing in his wake to pick up his first victory on the Tour de France. He also became the first Frenchman to win at the Isère mountain resort since Bernard Hinault in 1986.
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