Tour de France 2011: Resilient Thomas Voeckler retains yellow jersey

Thomas Voeckler retained the Tour de France yellow jersey after a dramatic 17th stage which saw the Tour move into Italy. Cadel Evans made up 27 seconds on the overall leader but Voeckler will take comfort in the fact that it could have been a whole lot worse as the Europcar rider twice lost his bearings on the steep descent to the finish line in Pinerolo but recovered to finish only four minutes and 53 seconds behind the stage winner, Team Sky's Edvald Boasson-Hagen . "It's a pity, because I saw that Contador, Evans and the Schlecks finished together. If I'd taken fewer risks, I would have finished with them," said Voeckler, who at one point overshot a corner and ended up in a car port of a house by the side of the road. Evans, who becomes more of a favourite for the title with every day he keeps his advantage of nearly two minutes over Contador, particularly as Voeckler is expected to fade, said it had been a difficult final descent. "With shadows and stuff it was real hard to see. Voeckler ran off the road in front of me twice I think," he said. "It makes you take things more cautiously. You don't ever want to lose time to anyone." Of the main contenders for general classification it was Alberto Contador who made the first attack on the final descent but the Spaniard was quickly followed by the Schleck brothers, Evans and Voeckler. In the circumstances Voeckler may feel that losing 27 seconds was a small price to pay but as the Tour enters the final four stage he can feel his rivals breathing down his neck. Top 20 in overall classification 1 Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) 73hrs 23min 49sec 2 Cadel Evans (BMC) +1min 18sec 3 Frank Schleck (Leopard-Trek) +1min 22sec 4 Andy Schleck (Leopard-Trek) +2min 36sec 5 Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) +2min 59sec 6 Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank) +3min 15sec 7 Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD) +3min 34sec 8 Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale) +3min 49sec 9 Tom Danielson (Garmin-Cervélo) +6min 04sec 10 Rigoberto Urán (Team Sky) +7min 36sec 11 Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R) +7min 53sec 12 Kevin De Weert (Quick Step) +8min 07sec 13 Rein Taaramäe (Cofidis) +8min 35sec 14 Pierre Rolland (Europcar) +10min 03sec 15 Sandy Casar (Française des Jeux) +10min 33sec 16 Haimar Zubeldia (RadioShack) +10min 38sec 17 Arnold Jeannesson (Française des Jeux) +10min 52sec 18 Jelle Vanendert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) +11min 39sec 19 Peter Velits (HTC-Highroad) +12min 06sec 20 Jérôme Coppel (Saur-Sojasun) +12min 44sec