Alberto Contador suffered an early spill before getting back on the saddle amid suggestions he was pushed while Alexandre Vinokourov was among injured several riders to pull out of the race. A television car later hit the leading group. Voeckler belonged to a breakaway launched with compatriot Sandy Casar and Spain’s Luis-Leon Sanchez, who outsprinted the two Frenchmen for the stage victory.
The trio’s move on the 218-kms ride from Issoire followed a series of crashes and accidents which led the peloton to deliberately slow and eventually cross the line 3:59 minutes behind Sanchez. Overall, Voeckler leads Sanchez by 1:49 and Australia’s Cadel Evans by 2:26.
The stage was marred by the most serious of several massive pile-ups since the Tour started.
Ninety kilometres from the line, on the Pas de Peyrol descent, a dozen riders fell onto the tarmac or tumbled into a roadside ditch and four were taken to hospital.
Kazakh Vinokourov, third in the Tour in 2003, called it quits with a broken thigh and had to be carried into an ambulance by his team mates.
Belgian Jurgen Van den Broeck, fifth last year, tried to make it back on his bike but pulled out a few hundred metres further down the road with a broken shoulder blade.
His team-mate Frederik Willems fractured his collarbone in the same crash while American David Zabriskie broke a wrist and also called it a day.