Crédit Agricole took its responsabilities today, ensuring the poursuit behind the breakaways without any help, to prepare a bunch sprint for Thor Hushovd. "It's quite logical. Astana didn't want to give us a hand. We had to do it by ourself," said the Norwegian sprinter. "All the teams knew I did want to catch the yellow and blue jersey. That said, I hope we'll receive help from other teams such as High Road tomorrow."

Thor Hushovd had mixted feelings yesterday. A bit frustrated due to his lack of luck (he finished 2nd twice) but also a bit of pleasure to think about tomorrow'stage wearing the yellow and blue jersey which means a lot to Hushovd. "My goals are to win a stage and be fit for the Tour de France's mountains struggle and green jersey competition," the Norwegian rider says. "I always feel good on Dauphine's roads, where I've already won several times (4). And I hope I will be able to win another time." Tomorrow'stage with a flat final in Vienne may be his only occasion.

Milram's neo pro Christian Kux was part of a three men breakaway during yesterdays first stage. Because of the hard work by Credit Agricole the trio was caught with 13 kilometres to go after an attack over 171 kilometres. "That was a good stage for us today," said a happy Milram sports director Jochen Hahn. In the finale, whiche went slightly uphill the entire last 10 kilometres, Milram concentrated on Björn Schröder's sprinting ability. He stayed calm up to the last few meters and waited his time. In the end, he sprinted to a third place finish. "We were looking to Björn today. Our tactic paid off," said Jochen Hahn. "And the two ahead of him weren't bad, either."

Rabobank's sports director Adri van Houwelingen was impressed by Valverde's performance. Van Houwelingen said: "I hear several other names but he [Valverde, editor] is my big favourite for the Tour de France. Well after our Menchov ofcourse."

The finale became exiting because the final kilometers were not flat, which meant that riders with a strong punch or good power sprint had a shot at the victory. To the classification riders it was important to stay alert and follow the colleagues from that first category. Rabobank's Robert Gesink easily stuck to that assignment. The pack finished in chunks, even though the first group was still a rather large one. "It is not that we came here with the idea to win with Robert, but it is still a pity that he loses ten seconds (bonus seconds, editor) to Valverde. We obviously want to ride a good classification," said van Houwelingen.

Yesterdays finale also had the kind of climb which sometimes means a good result for Team CSC's Karsten Kroon. "Karsten tried to keep up with Thor Hushovd and he did everything right but lacked that last bit of strength to be able to make it so he had to give in during the final 100 meters," said CSC sports director Scott Sunderland after the stage.

Instead Lars Bak was best for Team CSC with an 11th place with Kroon and Carlos Sastre close behind. "Carlos was doing fine on the climb but it wasn't the kind of finish where he has a chance of winning so all he had to do was to stay up front – which he did just fine. Tomorrow we have a somewhat dangerous finish with a tricky descent at the end and on Wednesday is the time trial. After that we'll have a better idea of the status," concluded the Australian sports director.

Saunier Duval's Juanjo Cobo, crashed before the final climb; helped by his teammate Alberto Fernández de la Puebla and full of bruises, the Cantabrian rider managed to finish, losing over 2 minutes.