After a few uncertain minutes while he appeared to want to wait for Flecha and Hoogerland to rejoin them, Voeckler then drove the breakaway hard. With prior race leader Thor Hushovd well back, the yellow jersey was bound to change hands, and Voeckler's time gap over the main field at the time of Flecha and Hoogerland's crash made him very likely to be the rider to take it. Voeckler's efforts left him unable to sprint at the end of the stage, and Sánchez won, but his near four-minute time gap over the peloton gave him the yellow jersey by a minute and 49 seconds over Sánchez and two minutes and 26 seconds against the best-placed overall favorite, Cadel Evans in third place. The overall standings did not change until stage 12, on Bastille Day, which ended with the hors catégorie climb to Luz Ardiden. Voeckler finished ninth on the day, ceding 20 seconds to most of the race's top overall riders, but still had sufficient time in hand to remain race leader by nearly two minutes. Rolland finished at his side for tenth on the day. Voeckler had said the night before that he expected to lose the jersey on this stage. After the peloton mostly stayed together in stage 13, popular expectation for stage 14, including two first-category climbs on course and another hors catégorie climb at the finish (Plateau de Beille), again was for Voeckler to lose the jersey. But he not only retained the jersey, he also finished with the main group of overall favorites, losing time to only three riders and actually putting time into other riders such as Damiano Cunego and Tom Danielson. Voeckler himself again expressed his surprise at his successes, saying "I was very surprised to be with the best riders up the Plateau de Beille climb. I don't know how far I can go." Stage 16 ended with a lengthy descent, from the second-category Col de Manse. Voeckler lost time to nearly all the race's top riders, and expressed after the stage his certainty that he could not win the Tour, but he remained race leader. Stage 18 was undoubtedly the most difficult in the Tour, incorporating three hors catégorie climbs, including the Col du Galibier at the finish; as such, race organisers defined the stage as the race's queen stage.