1. Jens 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.
74 Facts About Jens Voigt
1. 2.
Jens Voigt speaks fluent French and English, in addition to his native German.
3.
Jens Voigt was encouraged by his parents to participate in sports, since he often got into trouble as a youngster thanks to his excessive energy.
4.
Jens Voigt won the Peace Race in 1994 and topped the UCI "Challenge Mondial Amateurs" rankings in December 1994.
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Jens Voigt played a part in Jan Ullrich's 2000 Olympic Games win for the German team.
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In 2004, Jens Voigt joined his former Credit Agricole teammate Bobby Julich with a move to Team CSC.
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Jens Voigt rode the 2004 Tour de France for Team CSC captain Ivan Basso.
8.
Jens Voigt saw Ullrich ride past as he waited for his captain, before he single-handedly closed the gap to Ullrich.
9.
Jens Voigt was heckled by German fans calling him Judas for his effort to ruin fellow German Ullrich's chances.
10.
Jens 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 thanks to his help, Ullrich won his olympic gold medal in 2000.
11.
Jens Voigt 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.
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Jens Voigt ended 2005 as 29th on the UCI ProTour individual rankings.
13.
The 2006 season started at a slower pace for Jens 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.
14.
Up the last climb, Jens Voigt was alone with Spanish rider Juan Manuel Garate, but as Jens Voigt did not think he had done enough to deserve the victory, he let Garate take the win.
15.
Jens Voigt took the role of early attacker, to lessen the load for the team, and he formed or joined unsuccessful breakaways on several stages.
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At the line, Jens Voigt outsprinted Oscar Pereiro to take his second Tour stage win.
17.
On stage 15, Jens Voigt helped Frank Schleck from Luxembourg, pulling hard in the break with teammate David Zabriskie of the US, which eventually gave Schleck the win.
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Jens Voigt finished the 2006 Tour 53rd, helping Sastre finish 4th.
19.
In February 2007, Jens Voigt won the third stage of the Tour of California, which had numerous climbs.
20.
Jens Voigt ultimately prevailed in the sprint over the two men and approached to only 3 seconds behind Leipheimer for the General Classification thanks to time bonuses.
21.
Jens Voigt managed to hold on to his second place over the next 4 stages, finishing 21 seconds behind the winner of the Tour, Leipheimer.
22.
Jens Voigt finished seventh, keeping his leader's jersey and winning the 3-stage race, while the Swede Thomas Lovkvist of Francaise des Jeux took second place.
23.
Jens Voigt stated that his victory was harder to accomplish than the preceding year, when it was somewhat of a surprise.
24.
Jens Voigt 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.
25.
Jens Voigt was selected to represent Germany in the Beijing Olympic Games along with Fabian Wegmann, Gerald Ciolek, Bert Grabsch and Stefan Schumacher.
26.
Jens Voigt took part in the road race, which he did not finish.
27.
Jens Voigt then dominated the Tour of Poland, earning an individual stage and helping his squad win the Team Time Trial in the process.
28.
Jens Voigt began the 2009 season well by winning the Criterium International for the fifth time in his career, tying Frenchman Raymond Poulidor's record while grabbing a stage win, the points classification and the mountains classification.
29.
Jens Voigt 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.
Jens Voigt incurred a fracture of the right cheekbone and concussion.
31.
Jens Voigt had to skip several races to recuperate from his injuries, including the Cycling World Championship held in Mendrisio, Switzerland.
32.
Jens Voigt was inactive for a 6-week period and came back to competition at the Tour of Missouri, where he got a warm welcome from cycling fans.
33.
Jens Voigt began his last season with team manager Bjarne Riis by participating in the Tour Down Under and the Vuelta a Mallorca.
34.
Jens Voigt got his first top ten result of the year in the Vuelta a Andalucia, just short of the podium in fourth position.
35.
Jens Voigt 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 Operacion Puerto doping case.
36.
Jens 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.
37.
Jens Voigt eventually was left with only Rein Taaramae to worry about, and won the sprint against the Cofidis rider.
38.
Jens Voigt participated to the Tour de France as a domestique to his leaders, the Schleck brothers.
39.
Jens Voigt survived a scare on the mountainous stage 16, where he crashed heavily on the descent of the Col de Peyresourde, destroying his bike.
40.
Jens Voigt joined the newly formed Leopard Trek, following the Schleck brothers, Fabian Cancellara and four other riders coming from his 2010 team, Team Saxo Bank.
41.
Jens Voigt 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.
42.
Jens Voigt played a pivotal role in helping the pair reach the second and third steps of the podium behind BMC Racing Team's Cadel Evans.
43.
In 2012, Jens Voigt was the oldest rider of the World Tour teams at 40 years of age when the season started.
44.
Jens Voigt signed in late for a stage start, then had a bit of a verbal match against an official who complained about his lateness.
45.
Jens Voigt later had a good showing at the Tour of California, where he came in second of the fifth stage, an individual time trial contested in Bakersfield, 23 seconds behind David Zabriskie.
46.
Jens Voigt was part of breakaways and paced the bunch often.
47.
Jens Voigt was dropped on the slopes of the Col du Grand Colombier, but came back on the four escapees before competing in the final sprint.
48.
Jens Voigt attacked his breakaway companions on Independence Pass, which was situated in the first third of the race, and then soloed on to victory with almost three minutes of an advantage over the chasers.
49.
Jens Voigt was selected by Trek Factory Racing as part of their team for the 2014 Tour de France, giving him a 17th start on the Grande Boucle, matching the record for Tour starts held by George Hincapie and Stuart O'Grady.
50.
Jens Voigt was part of the break on Stage 1 of the tour, winning the combativity prize for the stage and taking the lead in the king of the mountains competition.
51.
Jens Voigt announced ahead of the 2014 USA Pro Cycling Challenge that the race would be his last as a professional.
52.
Jens Voigt almost won Stage 4 in that last race thanks to a day-long breakaway.
53.
Jens Voigt was joined by the raging peloton with only 900 meters to go.
54.
In December 2014 Trek Factory Racing announced that Jens Voigt would stay with the team as a coach, with a view to becoming a directeur sportif.
55.
In February 2015, it was announced that Jens Voigt would be the official ambassador of the Tour of California.
56.
Jens Voigt served as a television analyst and an adviser to the organizers.
57.
Jens Voigt has ridden in the Tour de Cure Signature Tour annually since 2015.
58.
At 43 years old, Jens Voigt had to work on his position on his bike to improve his aerodynamics.
59.
Jens Voigt reached the previous mark on the 199th lap of the velodrome, with 1:28 remaining.
60.
Jens Voigt used a modified version of the Trek Speed Concept frame, with dual disc wheels and standard aero bars.
61.
Jens Voigt used a front gearing of 54 teeth and a rear gearing of 14 teeth.
62.
Jens Voigt stood up on his machine a couple of times during the event.
63.
Jens Voigt was faster at the end of the attempt, as he covered some laps in under 17 seconds.
64.
Jens Voigt is the oldest rider to ever beat the record and his average power output was 412 watts.
65.
Jens Voigt's record stood until 30 October 2014, when it was broken by Austrian cyclist Matthias Brandle.
66.
Jens Voigt never tested positive to performance-enhancing drugs in his career.
67.
Jens Voigt alleged that he never doped and was always against the practice.
68.
Jens Voigt argued that it was impossible for him to imagine that he would be regarded as a doper and cheater by his children if he took performance-enhancing drugs.
69.
Tyler Hamilton felt Jens Voigt was jeopardizing his fight against doping in autumn 2012.
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Jens Voigt reacted by saying that he never heard about doping while he was on the CSC team.
71.
Jens Voigt and his wife Stephanie have six children, the youngest born January 2011.
72.
Jens Voigt thinks he is "just above the dog" in the hierarchy of his family but he likes it.
73.
Jens Voigt subsequently has worked as an analyst for German Eurosport and as an in race expert on the motorbike for major races for the channel's English language brands.
74.
Jens Voigt has co-presented a podcast with his former teammate Bobby Julich since 2021, initially called Bobby and Jens Voigt and produced with US brand Velonews the podcast has been independent since 2024 as The Odd Tandem and features interviews in English with current and former professional riders.