[1] 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.

[2][3] 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.

[6] Voigt was born in Grevesmühlen, now in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, then in East Germany, about 100 kilometres (62 mi) north-east of Hamburg, in the same area as Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Voigt attacked near the Côte du Mont Malgré Tout, with almost 25 km (16 mi) to go, and crossed the finish line solo, 48 seconds in front of the chasers.

He finished seventh, keeping his leader's jersey and winning the 3-stage race, while the Swede Thomas Lövkvist of Française des Jeux took second place.

He was a big part of his team successes in the Tour de France, protecting the leader Carlos Sastre, who won the eighteenth stage atop the Alpe d'Huez climb.

[22] Voigt was selected to represent Germany in the Beijing Olympic Games along with Fabian Wegmann, Gerald Ciolek, Bert Grabsch and Stefan Schumacher.

[26] He abandoned the 2009 Tour on 21 July 2009 as a consequence of a violent crash suffered while descending the Col du Petit-Saint-Bernard with the yellow jersey group during stage 16.

[30] In March, Voigt participated in Paris–Nice, where he finished second of the prologue and grabbed the yellow jersey after the third stage, which was shortened 53 km (33 mi) due to snowfall.

[31] He lost the jersey the very next day to eventual winner Alberto Contador, but managed to finish fifth overall after Alejandro Valverde's second place was annulled for his implication in the Operación Puerto doping case.

[32][33] Voigt then headed to the Volta a Catalunya, where he won stage 4 after escaping from the peloton to join a group of four riders on the last ascent of the day.

Voigt survived a scare on the mountainous stage 16, where he crashed heavily on the descent of the Col de Peyresourde, destroying his bike.

[38] His teammate Andy Schleck finished the Tour in second place, but was later given the title since the original winner Alberto Contador tested positive to clenbuterol.

[43] He healed in time for the Tour de France, ready to sacrifice himself and put any personal ambitions aside to help his leaders, the Schleck brothers.

[5] He played a pivotal role in helping the pair reach the second and third steps of the podium behind BMC Racing Team's Cadel Evans.

[44] In August, Voigt went to the USA Pro Challenge, and had some good results by taking the fifth place of the prologue and then finishing eighth in the individual time trial.

[52] In May 2013, at the Tour of California, Voigt contributed to creating an echelon on stage 5, splitting the peloton in half with 55 km (34 mi) to race.

[53] Even at 41 years of age, he attacked on the penultimate stage of Tour de France, and won the combative award of the day before he was caught by the overall contenders, just a few kilometres into the final ascent.

[56] As a mark of respect, the peloton let Voigt ride at the front on the first lap of the circuit in the Champs-Élysées in Paris where the race concludes, then battled for the sprint, won by Marcel Kittel.

[59] Before the last stage of the race, Voigt was asked in an interview with Outside Magazine: Americans also like your panache, the fact that you’re willing to go out on a break all day and attack.

[...] We have been doing some discrete tests in the velodrome in Roubaix prior to the Dauphiné [cycling race] and we believe that I have a fair chance.On 3 September 2014, Voigt announced that he would try to beat the UCI hour record of 49.7 km (30.9 mi) held by Ondřej Sosenka.

[72] Prior to the attempt, some prominent cycling personalities such as Bradley Wiggins, Eddy Merckx and Chris Boardman expressed the opinion that Voigt had a fair chance of beating the 49.7 km (30.9 mi) mark.

[77] Voigt used a modified version of the Trek Speed Concept frame, with dual disc wheels and standard aero bars.

[3] The UCI president, Brian Cookson, believed that this event could be the start of a cascade of attempts by other riders who perform well in time trials.

I felt euphoric – it was the last 20 minutes of my sporting career.Setting the hour record capped a 17-year career in which he is estimated to have bicycled 850,000 km (ca.