On today’s stage:

“I don’t think it was such a critical stage than we had initially anticipated. Stages 2 and 3 were the stages that really made the race. Today was just trying to go for a stage win and we had Jens Voigt in the breakaway all day. We were really hoping that Stuart O’Grady would be able to get over the last climb. But it was just a little bit too much and it came down to a field sprint.“ 

On today’s strategy:

“Our strategy was to follow to see what happens. Then we saw there was a head wind on that last climb and it wasn’t so difficult that there wasn’t really any need to make a massive move because we knew that Stuart was just a bit behind the time to get over the top of the climb. But he wasn’t able to make it and we were just missing our sprinter for the finish.“

On the team’s performance so far:

“I’d say we’ve done very good, but we unfortunately haven’t won a stage yet, which I’m a little disappointed about. But we’re right there scratching at it. Everyday we have riders in the breakaways. We’re all together all the time in the race, and we’ve obviously got some new guys on the team so we’re working out the kinks. I’m sure we’ll be ready to rip in Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico next week.“

*Floyd Landis of Phonak maintains the Tour leader’s jersey; George Hincapie won the stage and the sprint jersey while Levi Leipheimer of Gerolsteiner fought for the king of the mountains jersey.

*Team CSC showed its ability to attack first with Lars Bak, fresh off earning his most aggressive rider jersey yesterday, latching on to a group breakaway only to be reeled back in by Discovery, who wanted a stage win for Hincapie.

*Then, Jens Voigt almost immediately launched a four-man break that characterized the stage. Voigt is an accomplished breakaway artist who has won stages in the Tour de France and rode a breakaway into the yellow jersey in the 2005 Tour de France. Today’s breakaway, which also included Sebastian Lang of Gerolsteiner and Nick Reistad of Jelly Belly, stayed away nearly four hours, getting caught only on the final climb of the day, the Category 1 San Marcos Pass between the Santa Ynez Valley and Santa Barbara.

*Read the full story on today’s Stage 5 at www.csc.com/cycling.

*There will be TV coverage tonight on ESPN2 at 10:00 p.m. Pacific time (1 hour).

*Saturday’s 89.5-mile Stage 6 will travel from Santa Barbara to Thousand Oaks, passing through hilly terrain before reaching relatively flat finishing circuits on the campus of Amgen, the Tour of California’s title sponsor.

This quote is from Bobby right after the finish of the Tour of California on Sunday:

“I catch the red eye out tonight and go back to Philadelphia and pick up my family and then we have a day there before heading back to Nice, which is our base in France. Then three days later start we have the Paris-Nice race, which is obviously a big race. I won it last year. I don’t really have the same objectives for winning as I did last year, but obviously I think my form is pretty good. I should be able to go there and represent CSC very well.“

Read a preview of Paris Nice, a race won by Team CSC for the past two years.

View Windows Media Video of interviews with Team CSC after today’s stage.

Tour a photo gallery of Stage 4 action.

On today’s effort:

“My strategy didn’t change at all today. We were just waiting to see what the other teams would do. The most challenging part was just finishing the race. It was actually a pretty easy stage just rolling up and down the coast. The scenery was beautiful and I really tried to enjoy it. It was gorgeous.“

On tomorrow’s stage:

“Tomorrow is supposed to be the second hardest stage in the race with that big climb in the end. I’m sure that’s where the race will be decided.“