Birthday boy Thomas Voeckler in numbers

To celebrate the birthday of the rider with the most expressive tongue in professional cycling, here are a few quick facts and figures about the man of the moment …

About Voeckler

34 – Today is Thomas Voeckler’s 34th birthday.

13 – 2013 is Voeckler’s 13th season as a professional.

1 – Voeckler has spent his entire pro career with the same team, although during that time it has held several names: Bonjour, Brioches La Boulangere, Bouygues Telecom, Bbox Bouygues Telecom and its current incarnation Europcar.

1.77 – Voeckler’s height, in metres – equivalent to 5′ 10″. (His weight is typically quoted as 66kg, or 150lbs.)

Tour de France

11 – 2013 will mark Voeckler’s 11th participation in the Tour. He has started every edition since 2003.

100% – Voeckler has finished all ten of his previous Tours.

3 – Number of times he has finished in the top 60 overall: 2003 (18th), 2011 (4th) and 2012 (26th).

20 – Days spent in the yellow jersey: ten consecutive days in both 2004 and 2011.

4 – Number of stage wins: one each in 2009 and 2010, two last year.

1 – Voeckler won the King of the Mountains polka dot jersey last year, his first classification victory at the Tour.

Voeckler won the Tour’s mountains classification in 2012 (Image: Panache)

Other achievements

2 – Stage victories in 2013: stage six at the recent Criterium du Dauphine and stage three at last week’s Route du Sud (where he also won the overall).

2 – Voeckler has won the French national road race championship twice: 2004 and 2010.

10 – He has nine general classification wins in multi-stage races, including the 2003 Tour de Luxembourg, the 2011 Four Days of Dunkirk, the 2009 and 2011 Tour du Haut Var and this year’s Route du Sud. Eight of these wins have come in French races.