• Tour de France, Stage 15

Voeckler victorious as Contador grabs the lead

Thomas Voeckler was France's fifth stage winner this year © Getty Images

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Thomas Voeckler thrilled the French fans as he eased to an impressive victory on Stage 15 of the Tour de France as Alberto Contador grabbed the yellow jersey from Andy Schleck.

Voeckler, who won his first stage on last year's Tour, came home 80 seconds ahead of his nearest rivals after launching a breakaway, while Schleck recovered from mechanical difficulties to stay in contention.

With just under 22km to go, Schleck launched an attack on the Port de Bales but suffered a slipped chain. Contador took full advantage, ignoring an unwritten rule of cycling etiquette of not benefiting from another cyclist's mechanical problem, to snatch a 40 second lead.

Although Schleck pulled the deficit back to 20 seconds in a desperate attempt to hang onto the lead, Contador, aided by Samuel Sanchez and Denis Menchov, pulled away once more to cross the line 39 seconds ahead of the Saxobank rider, who surrendered the leader's jersey.

Defending champion Contador leads the general classification for the first time this Tour, under controversial circumstances, but he insisted he had no idea Schleck was suffering with mechanical problems.

"He had just launched an attack and had gained a lot of metres," Contador said. "So I was coming very fast from behind because I had already had it in my mind to attack from a kilometre earlier and I passed while I was in full momentum. I didn't know at all he had mechanical problems."

Team Sky's Bradley Wiggins lost even more time on the leaders, finishing more than nine minutes behind Contador to slip to 23rd in the general classification, 17:44 off the pace.

Stage 15: Pamiers - Bagneres-de-Luchon
1. Thomas Voeckler - Bbox Bouygues Telecom - 4:52:42
2. Alessandro Ballan - BMC - +1.20
3. Aitor Perez Arrieta - Footon-Servetto
4. Lloyd Mondory - AG2R La Mondiale - +2.50
5. Luke Roberts - Team Milram
6. Francesco Reda - Quick Step
7. Alberto Contador - Astana
8. Samuel Sanchez - Euskaltel
9. Denis Menchov - Rabobank
10. Brian Vandborg - Liquigas-Doimo

General Classification after Stage 15
1 Alberto Contador - Astana - 72:50:42
2 Andy Schleck - Saxo Bank - +0:00:08
3 Samuel Sanchez - Euskaltel - +2:00:00
4 Denis Menchov - Rabobank - 0:02:13
5 Jurgen Van Den Broeck - Omega Pharma-Lotto - 0:03:39
6 Robert Gesink - Rabobank - +0:05:01
7 Levi Leipheimer - Radioshack - +0:05:25
8 Joaquin Rodriguez - Katusha - +0:05:45
9 Alexander Vinokourov - Astana - +0:07:12
10 Ryder Hesjedal - Garmin - Transitions - +0:07:51
23 Bradley Wiggins- Sky - +0:17:44
31 Lance Armstrong - Radioshack - + 0:40:31

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