Jens Voigt

During the first mountains, Voigt helped Basso take the overall lead, while he slid down the board and finished 37th.

On mountainous stage 19, Voigt and Julich were in a 20-man break, but as Team CSC was leading the peloton to defend Basso's first place, Voigt and Julich did not work.

Up the last climb, Voigt was alone with Spanish rider Juan Manuel Gárate, but as Voigt did not think he had done enough to deserve the victory, he let Garate take the win.

Voigt finally got his first win of the season in the Ster Elektrotoer race in June.

Jens Voigt (born 17 September 1971) is a German former professional road bicycle racer and, upon retirement, became a cycling sports broadcast commentator.

During his cycling career, Voigt raced for several teams, the last one being UCI ProTeam.

Voigt wore the yellow jersey of the Tour de France twice, though he was never a contender for the overall title owing to the mountainous nature of the stages of the race being better suited to climbing specialists.

His career achievements include winning the Critérium International a record-tying 5 times and a number of one-week stage races, as well as two Tour de France stage victories.

Voigt won the Peace Race in 1994 and topped the UCI "Challenge Mondial Amateurs" rankings in December 1994.

After a four-year stint in the German Army, much of it spent with a special sports unit, he started professional cycling in 1997, winning races for the Australian team ZVVZ-Giant-Australian Institute of Sport.

In 1998, with the support of his former Australian Institute of Sport Sports Director, German-born Heiko Salzwedel, he moved to the big French team (which became ) where he spent the five years amassing 20 wins, among them a day in the maillot jaune in the 2001 Tour de France and a stage in that same Tour.

Voigt played a part in Jan Ullrich's 2000 Olympic Games win for the German team.

Voigt criticised German TV-channel ARD for starting a witch-hunt against him and pleaded that he was paid by Team CSC, not Germany and that (as he stated in the documentary Overcoming) thanks to his help, Ullrich won his olympic gold medal in 2000.

In 2004, Voigt joined his former Crédit Agricole teammate Bobby Julich with a move to.

Being tempo specialists, they formed a strong pair as they dominated the 2004 and 2005 LuK Challenge race, a two-man time trial.

Voigt rode the 2004 Tour de France for Team CSC captain Ivan Basso.

Voigt and teammate Jakob Piil were often in breakaways, covering the break for CSC.

At the start of 2005, Voigt won the Tour Méditerranéen, ahead of teammates Fränk Schleck 2nd and Nicki Sørensen 4th.

Voigt won the first UCI ProTour event, the prologue time trial of the 2005 Paris–Nice, a race Bobby Julich won overall.

Voigt nearly won the 2005 classic Liège–Bastogne–Liège when he was beaten on the line by Alexander Vinokourov, Voigt having been on a breakaway almost the entire race.

After a strong placing in the stage 1 time trial of the 2005 Tour de France, Voigt was only trailing race leader Armstrong by 1 minute and he tried hard to take the overall lead.

He took part in many attacks, before the first rest day on the 9th stage, he finally got in a break-away that lasted to the line.

He finished third, 3 minutes ahead of Armstrong.

Voigt ended 2005 as 29th on the UCI ProTour individual rankings.

The 2006 season started at a slower pace for Voigt compared to 2005 in order to save energy and be in a position to help Basso in his quest to win the 2006 Giro d'Italia and 2006 Tour de France races.

His only result until the Giro in May was an attack on the fifth stage of the Tour of the Basque Country, but he had to settle for second behind stage winner Thomas Voeckler.

For the Giro d'Italia, Voigt rode in support of Basso.

Following Team CSC's team time trial win on stage 5, Voigt found himself second, trailing race leader Serhiy Honchar by six seconds.

In September 2014, he set a new hour record.

Among cycling fans, Voigt was generally popular, both for his aggressive riding style and his affable, forthright and articulate manners in dealing with the public and media.

He speaks fluent French and English, in addition to his native German.

Voigt was born in Grevesmühlen, now in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, then in East Germany, about 100 km north-east of Hamburg, in the same area as Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich.

Voigt was encouraged by his parents to participate in sports, since he often got into trouble as a youngster thanks to his excessive energy.

His early performance indicated he had good endurance potential, and he joined a national sports school at age 14 and trained in cycling and track and field.

On the 15th stage, Voigt was in a break as Ullrich attacked up the Col de l'Echarasson, leaving race leader Lance Armstrong and second-placed Basso.

With Armstrong's team unable to pull Ullrich back in, Voigt was ordered back from his breakaway to help Basso defend his place.

Voigt saw Ullrich ride past as he waited for his captain, before he single-handedly closed the gap to Ullrich.

Next day was a time trial up the Alpe d'Huez with 900,000 spectators at the roadside.

Voigt was heckled by German fans calling him Judas for his effort to ruin fellow German Ullrich's chances.

Voigt's time in the maillot jaune would be short-lived however, as he fell to 168th at stage 10 after a fever, and he was eliminated for failing to finish stage 11 within the time limit.