Reactions from the Tour's Stage 5

The first stage win of the year for Mark Cavendish (HTC-Columbia) (Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Thor Hushovd (Cervelo Test Team) – 5th on stage, 7th overall @ 1:19: "It was very, very hot again today. I was really suffering in the heat. I was in good position for the final sprint. I used a lot of energy to get on the wheel of Renshaw, and Cavendish was able to win. He's one of the best sprinters in the world. I'm happy with today’s stage. I was able to get some more points in the hunt for the maillot vert. It's always better to win the stage. I am not racing just for points, I want to win the stage. I am actually looking forward to the mountains as it's going to be cooler up there."

Brett Lancaster (Cervelo Test Team) – 79th on stage, 156th overall @ 20:19: "Petacchi and McEwen are the most dangerous rivals right now in the green jersey. It's too early to say too much about the green jersey. The green jersey is always fought to the final day. Thor is a good climber and he will be able to do like he did last year and pick up points in the intermediate sprints. Thor always sprints for the victory, always all the way to the line. I think tomorrow we could see a breakaway. The sprinter teams are getting tired and no one will want to spend too much energy chasing before the Alps."

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Julien El Farès (Cofidis) – 58th on stage, 91st overall @ 7:32: "I spent a good day in front. We didn't spend all of our energy in the first part of the stage because we knew the bunch was just playing with us. We really started to race hard with about 30 kilometres to go. It was a nice day to be in front, to open up the road. I don't think I spent too much energy today, and I still have one stage to recover before we hit the mountains. It's alwas good to show oneself, even on stages that don't really suit you. It's good to get your name known by a greater public. Today was an opportunity to do this and I took it. I hope to show myself again, as there are still more than two weeks to go in this race. It won't be in the high mountain stages but I hope somewhere else."

Martijn Maaskant (Garmin-Transitions) – 156th on stage, 79th overall @ 4:41: "It was a long, hot day. I tried to help the guys with the lead out. I got on the front at 3k to go, which was probably too far out. It seemed like Julian, Robbie and Tyler were in a good position, but Julian and Tyler are still coming back from injuries. We're going to keep trying - we're working well and one of these days at the Tour, I think its all going to come together."

Carlos Sastre (Cervelo Test Team) – 101st on stage, 46th overall @ 3:19: "Although it seemed like a transitional day, today has been quite a hard stage in which we climbed almost 1600 metres over the bumpy roads that are typical of this area of France and accompanied by mainly headwinds for the majority of the stage. It has been an incredibly hot and tiring day. Today was the first day of this year’s Tour in which you could see white patches on the riders' jerseys and shorts from the loss of mineral salts, which is starting to wear us riders out little by little."