Thomas Voeckler wins stage 16 of the Tour de France 2012
Thomas Voeckler of Team Europcar won the 16th stage of the Tour de France after his spectacular performance during the 197 kilometre stage of the race. He crossed the finish-line in the shortest time of 5 hours, 35 minutes and 2 seconds and restricted the race favourites.
Chris Anker Sorensen of Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank fell 1 minute and 40 seconds short at the second spot with Gorka Izaguirre Insausti of Team Euskaltel-Euskadi holding the third spot.
Thomas noted, "I can't really figure out what I've done. It's the kind of thing I watched on television as a kid, and today it was me who did it".
"For me I had four races in my head today, each climb was a separate race. I know every metre of the climbs from training here in this region. There were 197 kilometers of racing here, and I knew all 197 kilometres by heart".
The overall classifications fight continuous between Vincenzo Nibali and Bradley Wiggins as the Italian managed to finish just ahead of his British opponent. Nibali secured the 11th spot with Bradley Wiggins’ right behind his wheel at the 12th position.
"I'm just glad that one's out of the way, the team were incredible today," said Wiggins. "It was hot out there, and everyone reacts differently to it".
Bradley Wiggins is still leading the overall classifications with a healthy margin of 2 minutes and 5 seconds over his team-mate Christopher Froome.
Nibali is further 18 seconds behind at the third spot with Jurgen Van Den Broeck and Haimar Zubeldia Agirre securing the fourth and the fifth positions in the respective order.
Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho of Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank wins the Intermediate sprint while Thomas Voeckler managed to bag all the four climbs of the race.
Gorka Izaguirre Insausti, Tejay Van Garderen, Thibaut Pinot, Rafael Valls Ferri and Steven Kruijswijk were the top five young riders during the stage 16 of the race.
Peter Sagan is leading the point’s classifications with Andre Greipel, Matthew Harley Goss, Mark Cavendish and Edvald Boasson Hagen securing the next four spots.
Team RadioShack-Nissan is leading the stage 16 classifications with Team Sky Procycling, Team Astana, Team BMC and Team Europcar occupying the next four positions.
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