Thomas Voeckler is a French professional road racing cyclist who rides for the Team Europcar cycling team. He is one of the most prominent French riders of his generation and has been described as a "national hero," due to strong showings in several editions of the Tour de France. He is also known as le Chouchou (Sweetheart). Born in Schiltigheim, Bas-Rhin, Voeckler has been a professional cyclist since 2001. He comes from the Alsace region of France but later moved to Martinique, where he was nicknamed "Ti-Blanc" (petit blanc) due to his small stature and pale complexion.

In 2011, Voeckler enjoyed his finest year as a professional. He recorded eight spring victories prior to the 2011 Tour de France in July, notably taking two stages at Paris-Nice, and winning the overall lead in the Four days of Dunkirk as well as the Tour du Haut Var.

In the ninth stage of the Tour de France, Voeckler led a breakaway, survived a collision caused by a media support car that injured two other riders, and crossed the line second, taking the overall-time lead and therefore wearing the maillot jaune (yellow jersey). He held on to the yellow jersey daily from the beginning of Stage 10 onwards, carrying it through all the Pyrenean mountain stages and into the Alps, but he was unable to retain it at the end of Stage 19, the queen stage finishing at Alpe D'Huez. Voeckler finished the Tour in fourth place 3min 20sec behind the winner, Cadel Evans, in the general classification – his best career placement in the Tour so far. His fourth-place finish in the general classification was the highest of any Frenchman in the Tour since Christophe Moreau's fourth-place finish in 2000.

Voeckler's 2011 compensation from Team Europcar was worth 420,000 euros a year, which made him the second highest-paid French cyclist after Sylvain Chavanel. His planned switch to Team Cofidis was worth almost twice as much, however Voeckler chose to remain at reduced salary, with Jean-René Bernaudeau's team once it re-found sponsorship for 2011, able to continue his 15 year relationship with the coach.