By Matt Majendie BBC Sport in Challans

To everyone outside of France, the story of last year's Tour was, somewhat predictably, Lance Armstrong's historic win.

But the home of cycling's premier event would beg to differ, instead preferring to laud the achievements of a happy-go-lucky 25-year-old who stumbled over the finish line in Paris 18th overall and more than half-an-hour behind the six-times champion.

VOECKLER FACTFILE Born: 22 June 1979 Nationality: French Team: Bouyges Telecom Tour best: 18th - 2004 Other career highlight: French champion - 2004 Thomas Voeckler profile

Alongside Armstrong, Thomas Voeckler - a relative unknown until winning the French championship a few weeks before the 2004 Tour - was the one of the stars of last year's race.

On stage five, he was part of a group allowed clear by Armstrong, the boss of the peloton.

Stuart O'Grady eventually snatched the win, much to the disappointment of Voeckler, but the result meant the diminutive Frenchman, together with his trademark cheeky schoolboy grin, donned the yellow jersey for the first time.

"Even now I look back on it as a total surprise," he told BBC Sport. "I never expected it. In fact, I thought I'd be struggling to keep up with the slowest riders."

Outside of France and the peloton, Voeckler was a virtual unknown until that moment.

But his stock rose rapidly as he remained in yellow for a remarkable 11 days, even matching some of the world's best climbers in the mountains.

His reign eventually came to an end when Armstrong usurped yellow, the colour he stayed in all the way to the Champs Elysees.

I'll just do my best to show last year wasn't a one-off Thomas Voeckler

"I knew I couldn't stay in yellow until the end," recalled Voeckler.

"But everyone was talking about when I'd finally lose it. It was just satisfying to prove people wrong."

One of the defining moments of the Tour came on stage 13 to Plateau de Beille, the second successive day Armstrong and Ivan Basso had ripped apart the peloton.

But while their duel was scintillating, Voeckler's fightback - with his yellow jersey gaping open, his face drizzled with sweat and his tongue well past his chin as he gasped for breath - was captivating.

He managed to finish the stage in 13th place, enabling him to hold on to the race lead for another day.

"The moment I crossed the line, I knew I'd managed to stay in yellow," he said. "The feeling was possibly the best of my career. No one can ever take that away from me."

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Outside of France, few expect Voeckler to exceed last year's achievements, but at his home, which is just a few kilometres from this year's race start in the Vendee region, expectation is building.

The omni-friendly Voeckler said: "Everyone who sees me wants to know how I'm going to do.

"I have to tell them 'I don't know'. I'll just do my best to show last year wasn't a one-off."

His lack of time-trialling and climbing prowess - he is no Iban Mayo or Roberto Heras - means he probably won't push his way into the top 10.

But, at 26, time is still on his side. And, aside from youth, his other greatest strength is his never-say-die attitude.

"Even when stages are at their toughest, I now know I can do it," he insisted.

Few in France, which has been starved of a home Tour winner since Bernard Hinault's last success in 1985, would disagree.