Lance Armstrong (Discovery, 2nd at 0'02)
"I've already said that I want to have fun at this Tour. Jan was unlucky yesterday when he crashed. And when I saw him in front of me today I knew that nobody else had that kind of advantage, having his rival right there in front of him. Of course that's good and helpful when you can chase somebody down, it's very motivating."
Fabian Cancellara (Fassa Bortolo, 7th at 1'02 and Best Young Rider)
On defending the white jersey of Best Young Rider: "It will be hard, but it's possible to change this jersey tomorrow and get the yellow jersey from Zabriskie."
Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile, 12th at 1'08)
"I went flat out, I gave all I had. Of course I'm not satisfied with the fact that Lance caught me. I don't know if it had anything to do with my crash yesterday. I did lose some blood. I didn't have the feeling of being so bad [on the road], so I'll continue fighting. It's not my lucky day getting overhauled by Lance. I would have liked to ride better, and gave it all - it wasn't a nice feeling when he passed me. I'm down over it at the moment, but the Tour lasts three weeks. We'll see what's in it in time."
Carlos Sastre (CSC, 29th at 1'32)
"It was a good stage for me; I felt good in the end." On his recent training, Sastre added, "Yeah, I did a big training [block] after the Dauphiné."
Tom Boonen (Quick.Step, 40th at 1'48)
"I think I've done a decent time, but that Zabriskie seems to be from another world!"
Scott Sunderland (CSC directeur sportif)
On the overall winning chances of Ivan Basso:
"Bjarne (Riis) told me the other day that Ivan (Basso) is ready for this, and I too believe very much in his chances for the overall win. Basso always works very hard to achieve his goals. Technically and mentally you can't get better a champion than Riis himself to coach you. Ivan did some very specific training, like some 180 km training rides on his time-trial bike, when you hear that you know that this guy is not kidding around. Also, for a three week tour, the frame of mind is important, Bjarne said that Basso's feeling good and radiates confidence . All elements for a successful campaign in France are present; and I think Ivan can bring it to a good end. I'll definitely put my pennies on him!"
What about young Australian Luke Roberts' role?
"I'm really happy that Luke's starting in his first Tour de France. Tell you, this guy has got a ton of talent and it's great to help him dig into it even more. Earlier this year, we were looking at him as a possible rider for the Giro. But we needed experienced and hard core climbers there in support of Basso, and that created a question mark. We weren't sure how Luke was going to tackle those mountains, his climbing abilities weren't at their best level yet. I know Luke was slightly disappointed to miss out on his first three week tour, but when I told him he was to have a rest and then get ready for a possible Tour de France start he went full out for that."
"In such a big team as ours it is a luxury to have more than nine riders ready to go to the Tour. And for some time it was undecided between Luke and Jacob Piil. In the Pro Tour Teams TimeTrial in Eindhoven both riders showed that their form was solid. Luke was ready and focused, but has not ridden a Tour before. Jacob is very much a team player and is a great rider, extremely experienced and also a former Tour de France stage winner, so it wasn't easy to make a decision. Riis waited until the very last moment to make this very hard call; I didn't envy him being put in that position. Riis asked them both to be patient and continue the hard work, after the national championships the final decision would be made."
"That's when Luke showed me again how professional he deals with things. Even though he only had a 50/50 chance of going to France, he kept going full blast in his preparation. I discussed it with Bjarne and called Luke over to my place for a couple of days of time-trial training. I can assure you, he did two days of hard yakka behind the scooter. I was impressed and informed Riis with his training data after every ride."
"Because Jacob had a bit of a lesser performance at the Nationals, Riis decided in Luke's favour. I'm pretty sure that Luke will be an ideal helper for Basso during the first ten days of the Tour and it will interesting to see how he goes in the team time trial."
Johan Bruyneel (Discovery directeur sportif)
"The analysis of the day is totally positive," Bruyneel told Belgian Sporza TV. "There was only one thing more we could have asked for: to win the stage and take the yellow. The Tour is three weeks long and a lot can happen. It's good to see that Lance gave the peloton a taste of his strength; some of the favourites already got a moral punch today. I knew Zabriskie was going to be good here, especially on a parcours like this. It was ideal for him. At the start there might have been a bit less wind, but that's no excuse. We have to be very happy with this result."
Walter Godefroot (T-Mobile directeur sportif)
"I had expected more, that's true, but we'll see," Godefroot said to Sporza "I don't know if this is a result of the crash. We can't say really what the consequences of the crash are; it didn't look too bad yesterday, but we'll have to wait and see. All in all Jan was lucky for it not to be worse. Yes, Armstrong is strong, he's at his top. But we had a good ride with Vinokourov."
Wilfried Peeters (Quick.Step directeur sportif)
"This is not a normal performance by Rogers," Peeters told Sporza. "He had prepared for this time-trial in peace, we expected a top five. I don't have any explanation for it; unless the wind was a factor.
"Zabriskie has ridden an incredible time-trial. His intermediate time is exceptional; I think there was a bit more wind in the back at that time.
Patrick Lefevere (Quick.Step team manager)
"This is the second time I have this happening with Rogers, that we expect great things from him and that he doesn't deliver," a rather annoyed Manager Patrick Lefevere commented to Sporza. "Probably he is not capable of dealing with the stress of the Tour. A topper needs to be able to do so though."
Lefevere was happier with Tom Boonen's ride, as the young Belgian finished in 40th, a few spots ahead of Rogers. "I followed Tom in the car and I didn't go underneath the 50km/h," he said. "That gives a clear picture. He gives a really good impression. He is strong. Tom had a bad night, tooth problem. He had to go and see the dentist at 11.30am this morning and had serious work done without anaesthetics. He's a top athlete and it is promising for the following days."
