Mauricio Soler – “I’m living out a dream…”
After a few tentative attacks, Mauricio Soler struck a decisive blow on the Col du Galibier. He attacked several times in stage eight but it was his move on the final mountain that enabled him to leave the peloton in his wake. He claimed his maiden Tour stage victory in Briancon and proved that he is a rider who deserves a lot of respect.
“It’s an incredible day. I’m living out a dream. I worked very hard to arrive at the finish on my own and I received the superb prize for that effort. I wanted to achieve something for myself in my Tour debut and at 24 years of age, I’ve been able to stamp my name on a stage. Nobody believed I could win here, not even me.
“It’s true that today I was strong, I proved that by attacking on the Iseran climb, then the Col du Telegraphe and again on the Galibier where I was finally able to break free.
“I thought that the finish of the stage was all downhill so I panicked a little when I saw the climb in the final kilometers.I arrived at the foot of the final ascent and was in a state of shock. I felt like I had nothing left in my legs but I managed to make it to the finish. Now, the challenge is to stay with the best riders because my ambition is to wear the yellow jersey, even if I’m realistic enough to know that will be very difficult.”
Alberto Contador – “The important thing is to be strong…”
The Discovery Channel squad played a strong tactical card on the road to Briancon. Yaroslav Popovych earned the title of the Most Aggressive rider thanks to his attack in the first five kilometers. He stayed ahead of the peloton for most of the day and, right at the summit of the final climb, was caught by his colleague Alberto Contador. The Spaniard was able to break free of the yellow jersey’s group with a phenomenal attack on the Col du Galibier but the long descent didn’t work in his favor. He finished fifth in the stage but is in complete control of the youth classification, with a lead of over three minutes on Linus Gerdemann... white is nice but he’s really after the yellow jersey.
“It was a very tough stage and I’m pleased with what I’ve been able to achieve but I really thought, for a while, that it would have been possible to stay ahead of Rasmussen and Valverde so it’s a little bit frustrating that we were caught in the run-in to Briancon but it’s hard for two men to stay ahead of a group of 15.
“I knew it would be hard to stay away for 40km but we made it to the final climb. [Yaroslav] Popovych did an exceptional job but we just couldn’t make it. Let’s hope that we do better another day. But the most important thing is to be strong and put on a good show.
“The circumstances haven’t been great. We attacked with a long way to go and it was always going to be a monster job to stay ahead. But we made the best of the situation. Today it didn’t come off but another day I’m confident that it will.”
Michael Rasmussen – “Now it’s all about yellow…!”
He began the day with an overall lead of 43 seconds and although he admits being attacked "left, right and center", Michael Rasmussen now has a buffer of two minutes 35 seconds over the rider in second place. Alejandro Valverde is a more credentialed rider than Linus Gerdemann (who slipped from second to 17th) but the Danish Rabobank rider still believes he has what it takes to win the Tour de France in 2007.
“My team did a really good job controlling the pace until halfway up the Galibier. After that I got a little isolated when the attacks really started going but I have to expect that. Essentially only the top contenders are left and you can’t expect to have it all your own way and with a full team. I got attacked left, right and center… it felt like a million times but I just tried to follow them and eventually Evans got away. I chose to follow Valverde because he had a team-mate up the road and we could join forces and work together to reel in the riders who were ahead.
“I attacked a few times as well. The team wants to protect the overall lead. Now it’s all about the yellow, obviously the polka-dot jersey is secondary. I’m in the lead by almost three minutes now. The next big test will be the time trial on Saturday and I believe I’ll manage to protect the jersey for the next four days.
“The time trial is not a concern even if it’s not my specialty. I haven’t worked on it specifically but we have done some testing with the Rabobank team – visiting the wind tunnel and adjusted my position to try and refine some aspects of that discipline – and hopefully the result will reflect that I’m a little stronger against the clock than I was two years ago.”
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Profile of stage 9, Val-d’Isère to Briançon. 
Mauricio Soler of Colombia has won stage 9 of the 2007 Tour de France. Michael Rasmussen of Denmark retains the overall lead.

The 159.5 km stage 9 began with a cold start to the Hors Categorie climb up to the Col de l'Iseran (15 km at 6%), followed by the Col du Télégraphe and the Col du Galibier (12 km at 6.7% and 17.5 km at 7%) with a 32 km downhill finish in Briançon.

The Colombian Barloworld rider was the first to top the peak of Col du Galibier and held on during the downhill finish. The chase group finished 38 seconds behind him.

Soler was excited by his stage victory: "It’s an incredible day. I’m living out a dream. I worked very hard to arrive at the finish on my own and I received the superb prize for that effort. I wanted to achieve something for myself in my Tour debut and at 24 years of age, I’ve been able to stamp my name on a stage. Nobody believed I could win here, not even me."

Pre-Tour-favorite, Alexandre Vinokourov, who has been struggling since he crashed on stage 5, lost nearly three minutes the in chase for the yellow jersey and is now in 21st place overall.

"I did what I could," said Vinokourov. "The team worked well again and tried to reduce the gap. It was another horrible day for me."

Linus Gerdemann, who surprised everyone in stage 7, fell out of the top ten overall and had to surrender the white jersey to Alberto Contador.