"I do not know what to say," said Michael Rasmussen three times after his magnificent victory in the first serious mountain stage of the Tour de France. "The yellow jersey is a childhood dream. It is really difficult to find the right words; it is simply overwhelming." The Danish climber indicated that he is going to defend the yellow jersey. "Now that I am wearing it, it would be stupid not to."

Theo De Rooij (Rabobank)

The director of the Rabo cycling teams Theo de Rooij was also overjoyed. "This has immediately made the Tour a big success, at least for now," is what he said somewhat cautiously still. "But, we have again won a wonderful mountain stage. Rasmussen experiences a day like this every year and he knows how to plan it too. But what happened behind him was also great: all classifications are open and Rasmussen profited well from it."

De Rooij also did not directly know how the luxury problem – because Denis Menchov also has a chance for a top-ranking – should be resolved. "We will see the upcoming days how we can best deal with this situation. If Rasmussen is in this kind of shape, you cannot neglect it. But, I would love to have such a luxury problem every day."

Michael Boogerd (Rabobank)

Shortly after his arrival, Michael Boogerd was looking forward to the champagne. "But, I am also going to go to bed early," is what he said. At a certain moment, Erik Breukink told the Rabo-veteran on the final climb that he should no longer ride in the front ranks. "I stayed with Denis Menchov and he wanted me to take the leading position. But then I stopped because I did not want to endanger Rasmussen's yellow jersey. That was fine with me, because I was out of energy anyway."

Erik Dekker (Rabobank)

Rabobank Sports Director Erik Dekker said:"Defending the yellow jersey is not easy. But to have it now is so magical. It compels me to be quiet." Dekker got convinced that Rasmussen was going to win on Montée d'Hauteville already. "That is logical when you know his qualities and when you hear that his lead is growing. But he obviously still had to do it first." According to Dekker, Rasmussen planned to grab the yellow jersey on this stage: "This was very special, especially the moment that we passed the finish line cheering. The fact that we headed into the mountains this year without a time trial was naturally an opportunity to seize the yellow jersey. He [Rasmussen] had been talking about that for at least six months."

Erik Breukink (Rabobank)

Rabobank's Sports Director Erik Breukink is happy that tomorrow is a rest day. "We can then think about the new situation with Menchov and Rasmussen. And it gives Grischa Niermann a chance to further recover from his crash during the descent of the Roselend. He has a big cut in his arm but it has been sutured." The team manager thought Rasmussen's achievement was 'very special.' "He won a stage and the spotted jersey in the last couple of years, but now he also seizes the yellow jersey. That is amazing. He wanted to go all out yesterday already but this was a much better stage for him. You cannot expect things to turn out the way they did. Especially when you take our start into account."

A lead group of eighteen cyclists, including some well-known cyclists but no Rabo-representatives, was established early on. "We missed a beat there and then you have to solve it. Our plan was to keep the gap as small as possible if we failed to be on the escape. We actually got going pretty quickly but it cost an enormous amount of energy. Pieter Weening, for example, did an awful lot of work."

'The Breuk' was also satisfied with Denis Menchov. "He looked solid and he went along with Sastre really well. But to be honest, it would have been easier if he had gone with Moreau. Denis was banking on Klöden to do the work. It did turn out that way. Losing those few seconds is not that bad."

Iban Mayo (Saunier Duval)

Iban Mayo came in second, Mayo said: ”To tell you the truth, I was hoping to be in the lead, because yesterday I felt fine. But the Tour is a treacherous race, and you can never be 100 percent sure. In the early kilometres I could see that I was OK, so I knew I´d be fighting for a leading position. When Rasmussen broke clear and began to open a gap, I realised that winning the stage was going to be extremely difficult. Before the final climb, his advantage was so huge that victory was no longer a possibility to me. At the foot of the mountain, Moreau launched an attack and I jumped clear behind him with Valverde. Then there came Evans, Contador, Kashechkin, and Schleck, but they didn´t seem to be willing to cooperate. We were running into the wind, so drafting was the most comfortable option. This balanced forces, but Moreau was riding too easily.”

“It´s a pity that we couldn´t hold off the Vinokourov group. With 500 metres to the top, I launched an attack to get the bonus points and seconds, and I succeeded. After having been through such a bad patch in the last editions of the Tour, being here, safe and sound, smells like victory to me. My only clear goal is scoring a stage win, as I said before coming here. Of course, the GC is tempting; stepping onto the final podium should be very nice. But the Tour is a very difficult race, so we should take it easy, step by step, living it by the day. The important thing is keeping this feeling, the sensations I felt today. And then, if a stage win or even something bigger comes, we´ll all be very glad.”

Linus Gerdemann (T-Mobile)

“I tried as hard as I could and although I didn’t think I could catch Michael Rasmussen, I did think for a while that it would be possible to keep the yellow jersey. I gave it everything that I had and I think that it was something I can be proud of.
“It was not a good day for the team. Michael [Rogers] was our leader and to see him crash out of contention is very upsetting. We now have to look at what we can do. Tomorrow is a rest day and we have time to reflect and consider our options.
“Kim Kirchen helped me so much on the final climb and I cannot thank him enough for the work he did. He was working like an animal for me and it’s really great to have team-mates like this.”

Alexander Vinokourov (Astana)

Alexander Vinokourov was supported by Andreas Klöden. Vinokourov said: "The last three kilometers were very tough. I was lucky that the team worked so hard for me and especially Andreas at the end of the stage. My muscles are tired, I didn’t recover so well… For me, the essential was not to loose too much time. Because I still have the hope to win the Tour. Tomorrow is the rest day, what is the best thing that can happen to me !"

Kim Andersen (CSC)

Carlos Sastre and Fränk Schleck were in the top ten: "I'm satisfied. We'd agreed that Carlos and Fränk should take it fairly easy and if an opportunity came along to gain some time towards the end they should take it. As it turned out it did and they both managed to take advantage," said CSC Sports Director Kim Andersen.

"At the same time the team did great as a whole. We had six guys up front in the last group of 40 riders. Unfortunately Stuart O'Grady crashed and had to abandon, but Jens Voigt did well so we must have advanced in the Team's Competition," concluded Andersen.

Claudio Corti (Barloworld)

“We are quite satisfied anyway,”said Team Barloworld manager Claudio Corti. Corti continued by saying: “As Soler and Siutsou were able to contend with all the GC contenders in spite of cramps Mauricio suffered at the very beginning of the final climb.”

Christian Knees (Milram)

Christian Knees also was in the group with all GC favourites at the beginning of the final climb, but he had to pay tribute to the high speed. “Astana went into the climb very fast, there I dropped back," said the Milram rider. “But I am satisfied with myself, I had good legs today,” said Knees, who finished 34th 9:44 minutes behind the winner.