Cyril Dessel said: "From the outset, the tactic was to put myself in the escape but my feelings have not been very good since the start of the Tour and I’ve never had the legs in the morning. I was in very good shape in may, but my preparation was disrupted by saddle sores. Despite this, I confess that the very day was really good for me and I therefore felt ready this morning."

Dessel continued: "I was not easy to put myself in the breakaway, which took a very long time to establish, but I was able to get there by joining the counter-attack after the initial move. At first I left the work to be done by the others and when I found myself with Tadej Valjavec, we rode together, both to catch [Stefan] Schumacher and to gain time for my team-mate in the overall standings."

Dessel concluded: "Then, on the climb to the top of the Bonette, one which I already have done with my father at the age of 14, I saw the rider from Barloworld attack and I have given everything to try and reel him in but didn’t succeed. I went to the second position and we found four men in the lead. I’m good on the downhill but I also knew that, with Popovych there, it would be very difficult to attack on the descent… so, in the last kilometers I waited for the right moment to go. I saw a turn at 400 meters to go which was perfect for speed. Then I saw Arroyo shaping up to go, so I gave it everything and it worked. I was told that I had won 50 meters before the line but I wasn’t going to raise my arms."

The rider in second place overall appreciates the fact that one of his rivals lost half a minute on the final descent. Denis Menchov (Rabobank) lost ground but Bernhard Kohl (Gerolsteiner) doesn’t believe it was because he and his cohorts took excessive risks in the final 28.5km of an exciting stage. He’s retained his climbing crown for another day and that’s the prize he’s targeting for the Tour.

Bernhard Kohl said: "It was a difficult day especially as beforehand I thought we’d arrive with about 30 of 40 men but it was quite a selection with the Schlecks and Sastre doing an impressive job but I generally felt capable of following."

Kohn added: "The descent was dangerous but it’s only what you make of it. You’ve just got to try and limit the risk and be wary; the good thing from the downhill is that Denis Menchov lost 30 seconds in the general classification and that buys me a bit of time. It’s an important 30 seconds."

Kohl explained why there were no major attacks in the battle for the overall: "It makes sense that there weren’t any big attacks on the Bonette-Restefond. It’s a huge mountain of over 2,800 meters, there was a descent to follow, the wind was blowing and I don’t think that big gains could have been made especially as the whole CSC team was so strong. We had to be practical about what could have been done against them. As for happens now, winning the Tour? I don’t think so but hopefully after tomorrow I’ll still have this jersey with the beautiful spots."

By default Andy Schleck (CSC - Saxo Bank) has found himself back in the lead of the youth classification. It wasn’t part of the original plan and his advantage over Vincenzo Nibali is just six seconds behind the brother of the overall leader came about just because the CSC was doing his job.

Andy Schleck said: "It’s like a dream. Who would think that two brothers could have a prize jersey each at the same time at the Tour de France? I’m really happy right now. There wasn’t actually a thought about this white jersey before the stage but in the end I saw that Vincenzo Nibali was no longer there but I didn’t know how far behind he was. I just did my race, focused on what I had to do and this is the reward."

Andy Schleck continued: "We didn’t feel so good today. It wasn’t the right stage to really attack. Cadel knows that his opportunity will come to take time out of us but today wasn’t the right time to attack. Tomorrow is the hardest stage and we’ll try and make the race as difficult as possible for the others."

His brother, Fränk Schleck (CSC - Saxo Bank) said: "We did a good job today. At the top of the last climb there were just a few riders left and everybody was struggling. When I say everybody, I mean all of us! It was very fast and we had a really quick downhill. I was scared a bit on the descent but I managed and was pretty confident about how it would end. Of course, I thought back about the crash of [Oscar] Pereiro and about the crash that I had in the Tour de Suisse but it was good to be able to stay upright and up there at the finish."

Fränk Schleck continued: "I have to say thanks to Bernard Hinault talked to me and he gave me a few little tips for the downhill and they worked out pretty well. I had a lot of confidence and have every reason to be satisfied."

The overall leader knows his advantage isn't big enough: "I absolutely have to attack tomorrow and try and break the others. We tried it today but I have to give a big compliment to Carlos [Sastre] who made a really good decision at the beginning. He said, ‘Okay, we’ll let everybody go and we’ll just have to stay with the team together.’ We rode a good tempo and it worked really well. Tomorrow, we’ll have to go!"

Fränk Schleck added: "Carlos did try to get clear at the top but there was a really strong headwind." 

Fränk Schleck was satisfied with yesterday's stage: "Today is as nice as the stage before for me. Not just because I kept the jersey but as Andy now has the white jersey. We didn’t expect that. We didn’t ride for it but he’s got such class. He is the future and he’s going to win the Tour one day."

"Such an incredible shame." Rabobank sports director Erik Breukink needed only four words to describe Menchov's time loss of 35 seconds on the descent. "I have talked to him in the meantime and he told me that he had made a couple of navigation mistakes during the more technical parts of the descent. That is when a gap was created. The others then of course blasted ahead full steam. This obviously is very bitter. It would have been great had Flecha, as was the plan, also made it to the top. Then Menchov would have at least had somebody with him for the descent. It is 35 seconds of time loss too many."

The times that the Russian Rabobank captain has fallen behind this Tour have all occurred at unexpected moments. "You can say that again, yes. This really is difficult to 'digest' right now, even though of course it is part of the sport of cycling." Menchov will already be able to make up for this on the Alpe d'Huez tomorrow. "That is when the battle will break loose. Indeed, it is an absolute necessity for Menchov to go on the attack but the same still goes for many others with Cadel Evans so close in the ranking. It is going to be difficult now, very difficult."

Bram Tankink maintains a positive view in regards to his Russian teammate. "I do not know how well he did going uphill, but perhaps he can deliver a couple of punches here and there tomorrow." Tankink could imagine why Menchov lost time on the descent. "We did not go downhill en bloc, so I had the opportunity to look around and it was beautiful. But when you go down so fast, it is very technical."