2011 Team Europcar season
[3] While he spent most of the Tour riding in Voeckler's service, Pierre Rolland won one of the marquee stages, up Alpe d'Huez, eventually finishing 11th overall and winning the young rider classification.
The team had a solid showing at the traditional opener to the French cycling season, the Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise.
While FDJ's Jérémy Roy easily won the race with a solo breakaway, Gautier rode to sixth place by finishing near the front of the peloton two and a half minutes behind.
[18] That same day, Gautier secured a podium finish at Les Boucles du Sud Ardèche, coming third in a selective 12-rider sprint at the front of the race.
[19] Chavanel rode to eighth place at Le Samyn, coming across the line 11 seconds back of the winner Dominic Klemme in a race decided by a late breakaway.
Veilleux won La Roue Tourangelle beating Saur–Sojasun's Anthony Delaplace in a two-up sprint five seconds ahead of the main field.
[23] While Voeckler was nonetheless happy to come away with a win, he stressed after the race that it was not Milan–San Remo, and that the victory should be viewed with the proper perspective.
[25] Voeckler just missed out on the podium at the Tour du Finistère, finishing in second position of the peloton behind two late attackers for fourth place on the day.
[43] Voeckler also turned in the team's best ride at the Tour de la Somme, finishing ninth in the field sprint.
After winning La Tropicale Amissa Bongo, Charteau was expected to be a top contender for victory, but he broke his collarbone after a stage 1 crash and had to leave the race.
[69] The squad did pick up a win, with Gène taking stage 3 from a breakaway sprint,[70] but their best-placed overall finisher was Quemeneur over two minutes down on race champion Kristian House.
[71] Voeckler entered Paris–Nice optimistic for results, but with the realization that the stage 6 individual time trial would limit any chances he had on the overall crown.
He and recently ousted race leader Thomas De Gendt, with two others, broke away just 6 km (3.7 mi) into the stage and stayed away by a margin of 13 seconds over the peloton at the finish.
Voeckler won the four-man sprint at the end and took the stage win,[73] as De Gendt had spent all his energies drilling the group to the line in order to get the time gap he needed to retake the race leadership.
Breaking away with Michele Scarponi on the climb to Ledro Bezzecca which closed out stage two, Voeckler defeated the Italian in the sprint 25 seconds ahead of the peloton.
He put in a winning attack 20 km (12 mi) from the end of the hilly fourth stage, as the chase group he had been in caught the day's morning breakaway.
[80] Kern took a strong win at the Critérium du Dauphiné, finishing alone 9 seconds clear of the main field full of some of the best climbers in the world, atop the short, steep climb at Les Gets.
[82] Later in June, Turgot won the prologue time trial at the Boucles de la Mayenne, besting Endura Racing's Alexander Wetterhall by less than a second.
[84] Charteau showed his climbing prowess and cunning in stage 2 at the Route du Sud, outpacing Movistar Team's Vasil Kiryienka to win alone on a Pyrenean hilltop in Cauterets.
[89] The Amaury Sport Organisation announced the wildcard entries to the Tour de France in January, much earlier than in past years.
[95] Voeckler, who entered the day in 19th place a minute and 29 seconds down in the overall classification, made a high-powered breakaway with Luis León Sánchez, Sandy Casar, Juan Antonio Flecha (all of them stage winners in one or more previous Tours) and Johnny Hoogerland.
Visibly so spent that he could not sit upright on his bicycle after crossing the finish line, Voeckler had retained the yellow jersey by a margin of 15 seconds.
Together with Spaniards Alberto Contador and Samuel Sánchez as the leading group on Alpe d'Huez, Rolland rode away from them with 2.5 km (1.6 mi) to race and took the day's honors, the first and only stage win for a French rider in this Tour.
He also claimed the best young rider white jersey by finishing two minutes the better of Cofidis' Rein Taaramäe, who had begun the day in the lead in that classification.
[114] Midway through the 2010 season,[119] Bouygues Telecom announced that they wished to reduce their involvement in financing the team, and were interested in continuing their partnership with the squad.
[126] Voeckler had also received offers from rival French squads Cofidis and Saur–Sojasun about joining their respective teams, if in the worst-case scenario that Bbox Bouygues Telecom folded.
[127] Bernaudeau obtained an extension from the Union Cycliste Internationale, in relation to the registration records for the team, which had to be submitted before 1 October.
The deal was officially confirmed later that day,[132] but the team were no longer eligible to apply for a ProTeam licence due to the delay in finding a sponsor.
