"I was three places behind Gerald at one point but then I was able to get past the three of me before Gerald made his final acceleration which got me ahead. And then I gave it 100 percent."

Cavendish added: "The finish was perfect for us, taking first and second. It was all really beautiful."

Adding to Columbia’s satisfaction, Cavendish and Ciolek’s team-mates Kim Kirchen and Thomas Lovkvist are still leading overall and in the Best Young Rider’s competition.
"The way we worked so hard together in the last few kilometres shows exactly why we are so successful as a team," Kirchen said.

Talking about his experience of what it feels like to wear the yellow jersey, he added "it’s something every rider dreams of. I’ve had to wait ten years to do this, but I can assure you it’s been worth the wait!"

Asked if he plans to go for the green jersey, Cavendish says that he still lacks the consistency to do so. "My objective here is winning stages in the first week, but for the green jersey you need a lot of endurance and I’m still young."

As for going all the way to Paris, Cavendish was adamant that he is "going to try. I have no intention of stopping. It wouldn’t be fair on my team-mates, my sponsor or the organisers. I’ll give it 100 percent."

It took 50km before an escape of any real substance was able to get clear of the peloton. When it did, the most persistent man was Laurent Lefevere of the Bouygues Telecom team. Like most others who have won votes for the Most Aggressive Rider prize, he started his move with the hope of winning but it this time it wasn’t to be…

Laurent Lefevere said: "With the weather we had today it was really difficult at the beginning because the pace was really fast and then we had really long, straight roads. It took a long time to get an escape to stick but I wanted to be part of the move because I felt that I had good legs. Then it took me a long time to understand that Jerome [Pineau, editor] was in the small counter-attacking group because my radio was broken. I soon realized that he was coming up and then I waited and rode with them. When the peloton started to come back there was not much that could be done."

Lefevere added: "When you start an attack like this, of course you have to believe in something and tell yourself it’s possible to win the stage. I wanted to do what I could today because the stage ended near my home. I come from the north but two years ago I moved to this region. So that’s why I took a gamble today. It was a good chance to get some exposure for the jersey but it would be much better to do so by raising the arms for a victory salute."

Because of the bad weather conditions many riders crashed today. A couple of the riders, who crashed were Team CSC Saxo Bank's Jens Voigt and Nicki Sörensen, who both got off without major injuries.

"Of course there were cuts and bruises but apart from that they got off fairly easy and should both be ok for tomorrow. It was nice with a quiet stage ahead of the Pyrenees. Now we'll have to wait and see what tomorrow brings – it'll probably be the kind of stage where some might loose as supposed to gain time because of the long descent at the end. I'm hoping for dry weather," said Team CSC Saxo Bank's sports director Kim Andersen after the stage.

The first Rabobank rider ever, wearing the green jersey and according to what Freire says even the first Spaniard in the history of the Tour to have the green around his shoulders. Twenty minutes after the finish on Saturday, Oscar Freire could still enjoy his first 'prize' in this Tour. But it wasn't all that on the podium. He barely smiled. Later on: "The green jersey is nice, but it only counts in Paris. I want to win a stage now, but it really was not among the possibilities today."

Mark Cavendish appears to be undefeatable at the moment with these sorts of arrivals that do not contain a minor climb leading up to the finish. Freire: "His speed is enormous. Hard to beat. He was again the best today. Maybe I can finish a bit closer, but I made a mistake in the final corner. That cost me a lot of power. I did not have any energy left during the final bit. I did participate in the sprint for the points and that has been rewarded."

Today will be the first true mountain stage. Rabobank sports director Erik Breukink counts on his captain Denis Menchov. "He was strong again today and the team is also excelling." Therefore, all members of the Rabobank team was scared stiff when at fifty kilometers from Toulouse, Laurens ten Dam, Menchov's right hand for the mountains, crashed down hard. Ten Dam's heart also stood still, figuratively speaking. "I already saw some guys go down and then tapped my brakes and also fell down. I think there was some oil or something. I fell on my hip, but I do not think I suffered a lot of damage." Breukink confirmed that later. "Fortunately, things are okay. No scratches or any other inconveniences. We can count ourselves lucky there."

Whether Menchov will receive assistance when the climbing really gets tough is also a question that remains unanswered for the team leader. "I do not know what is going to happen. If there is one team who really can toughen up the race it is CSC. But are they going to do that. Perhaps they are going to put pressure on Evans early on to isolate him. Whether that would be a positive thing for Menchov? Of course when they put pressure on Evans, they also put pressure on Denis. It remains to be seen whether or not he will still have a helper with him. We need to be patient and just see what is going to happen."