French cyclist Thomas Voeckler of Team Europcar retained the lead in the Tour de France 2011 on Saturday after the last stage in the Pyrenees, which was won by Jelle Vanendert (Belgium) of Team Omega Pharma-Lotto and failed to be as significant as expected for the main contenders, who didn't have the guts needed to dare attack early.

Vanendert clinched the 14th stage - the first Tour de France stage win of his career - after finishing 21 seconds ahead of Team Euskaltel's Samuel Sanchez of Spain, who beat the Belgian to win Thursday's 12th stage, and 46 seconds in front of third-place finisher Andy Schleck of Luxembourg's Team Leopard-Trek.

"I never imagined this would happen to me on my first Tour de France," Vanendert commented after the stage and added "I have been feeling good in the mountains."

The contenders were expected to launch attacks in the most grueling stage of the Pyrenees so far - which featured a 15.8-kilometer (10-mile) climb to Plateau de Beille - but Schleck only gained 2 seconds on defending champion Alberto Contador (Team Saxo Bank-SunGard) and Cadel Evans (Team BMC Racing) despite multiple brief attempts from the two-time runner-up.

Evans crossed the line fourth ahead of Colombia's Rigoberto Uran (Team Sky) and Contador. They all were 48 seconds behind Vanendert.

"It wasn't possible to make a big difference, I need a steeper stage than this," said Schleck, who rides for the Leopard Trek team with his older brother Frank. "We worked hard, we climbed well. But when you attacked today, you could only get 50 meters ahead because there was a bit of wind. But still, I got a few seconds at the end."

Voeckler is 1 minute, 49 seconds ahead of Frank Schleck, 2:06 clear of Evans, 2:15 ahead of Andy Schleck and 4:00 in front of Contador, who is seventh behind Sanchez and Italy's Ivan Basso.

"I'm not interested in who is stronger than who," Voeckler said. "My objective was to keep the jersey."

Contador praised Voeckler, but does not expect him to keep going at this rate for much longer.

"We know he's a great rider, but if he ever cracks one day he will really lose a lot of time," Contador said.

The 168.5-kilometer (105-mile) stage from Saint-Gaudens to Plateau de Beille finished with a famed and tortuous ascent.

Schleck kept shooting glances at Contador when next to the three-time champion early in the last climb, looking to see if the Spaniard was struggling. Contador beat Schleck to win the Tour de France the past two years.

With about 10.5 kilometers (6.5 miles) remaining, Schleck, Contador and Evans accelerated ahead of the main pack.

Schleck launched another half-hearted attack soon after, with Contador struggling to follow until he sat on Frank Schleck's wheel and caught up a few seconds later.

"I am satisfied because I didn't lose any time today," Contador said. "I can't say I was good, because good means winning."

When Andy Schleck attacked for the third time with 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) left, he could not get away from Contador and Evans, who was Tour de France runner-up in 2007 and 2008, but eliminated by crashes and injuries in the 2009 and 2010 Tour editions.

"I tried to keep things under control," Evans told Roadcycling.com and our mobile cycling news site Roadcycling.mobi after the stage.

"It was a long, but not a steep climb. It's at this point in the race that the GC contenders are pretty evenly matched. So it's really hard to make a big difference. Like so many cycling experts have said, we wasted a lot of energy as a team to put ourselves into a good position coming into the mountains. It's a little bit of conservative racing, but these stages are hard," Evans continued.

Evans complained about the Schleck brothers continuously expecting him to reel in attackers for them. "I'm not here to tow them to Paris."

When asked what it will take to improve on two runner-up finishes in the Tour concluded "It's consistency and being there every day. That's how I approach it."

Having waited for his moment, Vanendert timed his attack perfectly with 6.4 kilometers (4 miles) left, and Sanchez left it too late to reel him in.

"The favorites had already attacked several times," said Vanendert, who won in 5 hours, 13 minutes, 25 seconds. "I thought they might already be on the limit and it was the perfect time to attack."

As the small group of contenders and outsiders jostled for position, Basso and Voeckler tried to slip away from the Schleck brothers and Contador, but their attacks kept petering out.

It was Sanchez's turn to attack about 4 kilometers (2.49 miles) from the top, and they all let him go as he is not a general classification contender in the Tour de France.

With 400 meters left, Andy Schleck sprinted clear on his fifth attack of the stage, but the time he gained on Contador and Evans will feel hollow after all the brief efforts he made during the day.

Sunday's 15th stage to Montpellier is a flat route for sprinters. A rest day follows on Monday before the riders head to the Italian and French Alps for three more days of climbing, before a long individual time trial on the next-to-last stage.

"I just wanted to win a stage on the Tour ... We'll see what I can do in the Alps," said Vanendert, who rides for Omega Pharma-Lotto. "The team really gave me the chance to prepare myself 100 percent for the Tour."

British rider David Millar of Team Garmin-Cervélo, and French riders Sandy Casar and Julien El Fares went ahead early on over three climbs up Portet d'Aspet, Col de la Core and Col de Latrape.

The peloton - led by Leopard-Trek - closed the gap to under eight minutes as they reached the foot of the category 1 Col d'Agnes, the day's first testing ascent.

Millar was caught, Christophe Riblon joined Casar and El Fares, while behind them Contador sat on Voeckler's wheel.

On the descent from Col d'Agnes, Laurens ten Dam had a spectacular tumble when he went too wide on a turn and flew over his handlebars. The Dutch rider bloodied his face but rejoined the race.

Jens Voigt crashed soon after coming down Port de Lers, cutting his left arm. But the veteran German rider got up and pedaled furiously to rejoin his Leopard-Trek teammates. The 39-year-old Voigt then fell after breaking too heavily but continued again.

Please support our advertisers and check out our apps, other services and features - they make Roadcycling.com and Roadcycling.mobi possible.

Click here for complete results and more photos from today's stage.