* Robbie McEwen was just not fast enough to catch up with his compatriot today.  "Bradley has placed a very powerfull attack.  That an Australian wins actually pleases me" McEwen confessed.

* Also involved in the first crash at 6 km from the finish is Ludo Dierxksens.  "The crash happened completely up front.  I really couldn't avoid it anymore and went over head.  But don't worry, no real damage."

* "It was really crazy getting up front in the finish", Mario Aerts admits.  "I was just a little too late to bring Robbie back up front.  But there will be more chances...."

* Alexander Sjefer has broken his right wrist in Friday's crash.  The rider from Alession will be home at the latest on Sunday.

* The Dutch Aart Vierhouten has had some troubles with his stomach.  At 30 km from the finish he couldn't keep up with the speed of the peloton, but he did manage to finish the stage at 20'27" from McGee.  He was the last rider to cross the line today.  Thor Hushovd is the lantern rouge at more than half an hour from the leader Igo Gonzalez de Galdeano.

* Igor de Galdeano didn't like that Lance Armstrong had lost time today.  "That's real bad luck", spoke the yellow jersey.  "I might have gained time on Armstrong, but nobody wants it this way.  This could happen to me as well."

* Roger Legeay, team manager of the Frenchman Christophe Moreau, says that Moreau can forget about the GC now.  "Crashed again... The weird thing is that he's not to blame at all."

* Oscar Freire will decide on Sunday morning if he will still continue in the Tour.  Freire crashed just before the end of today's stage and landed in a ditch.  The World Champion hasn't broken anything, but like Locutus mentioned in his race report and Jambon awards today, Freire did cross the line holding his back.

* Due to all the crashes, the Tour organisers had to defend themselves.  They get complaints from all sides, but Leblanc says this is out of his league.  "In the first week of the Tour, there are always lots of crashes.  These are definitely not the cause of hte obstacles on the road."  Leblanc blames it on the nervousness of the peloton.  "I don't know anymore what we can do to avoid these things."