Tour de France - What the riders said.....

Eurosport - Wed, 18 Jul 18:14:00 2007

Reaction from the big names after stage ten of the 2007 Tour de France.

CYCLING: Tour de France; stage 10; Vasseur - 0

Cedric Vasseur:

"I can now leave with my head high. Ten years ago, I wore the yellow jersey during five days. There are signs. I knew victory could not slip from my hands today.

Michael Rasmussen:

"It was a long, hard day and all the guys are suffering in the heat, that's quite obvious and 230 kilometers into a headwind takes its toll on everybody. My Rabobank team defended well today and we'll have to wait and see how we go. There is another two days before we have the big test in the time trial on Saturday and then I'll start thinking about the Pyrenees. There's been a lot said about the situation regarding leadership between myself and Denis Menchov and I think it's quite clear now that I'm the leader in the team now and I'm here to defend the yellow jersey for as long as possible."

Linus Gerdemann

"This shows that the authorities are doing what it takes to fight against doping [T-Mobile team-mate Patrik Sinkewitz's positive doping test]. It shows that we are on the right path. I cannot judge but if the B sample returns a positive, it would be sad but also so stupid. I cannot understand that one can act like this."

Sandy Casar

"It was angering. The most important thing is the victory. When someone gets themselves beaten that means they made the error. It's frustrating. In the escape we worked well together. We left as three then Voigt and Vasseur caught up. Halgand was strong, he played his own card. I was a little bit close. Strength in one leg was lacking. After that, a sprint like that one there, it's a lottery. If we were to do it over and again, there would be different winners."

Patrice Halgand:

"The day was long, hot, a little bit difficult. I felt good. I tried everything to escape, but the final was not difficult enough to be able to get away. We didn't talk too much. It was necessary to put digs against the others. On the final straight it was a cat-and-mouse game. Then, Cédric launched the sprint at 200-250 metres. It was difficult to catch up."

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