1.   Stage victory went to Kazakhstan rider Alexandre Nadobenko, who proved strongest in a headwind sprint finish along Deansgate.

2.   A dozen of those remaining competed in the sprint finish that seemed predictable at the end of a flat course.

3.   A familiar face and pair of scarlet shorts were missing from the sprint finish.

4.   Cipollini was in his element because the roads, as flat as a filleted North Sea herring, guaranteed a sprint finish.

5.   For the third time in the Tour DuPont, two German friends who ride for different teams finished first and second in a sprint finish.

6.   I just came through with the sprint finish.

7.   In a sprint finish, the winner was Nicola Minali, an Italian with the Gewiss team.

8.   Steels, himself, has won two sprint finishes this week.

9.   The shiniest was Salvatore Commesso, an Italian with Saeco, who won a sprint finish against Alexander Vinokourov, a Kazakh with Deutsche Telekom, a German team.

10.   Then the pack set off in sweltering heat for the usual first week of mass sprint finishes.