[5] Française des Jeux' early season successes continued at the Tour du Haut Var, when Le Mével won the second stage of the two-day event, and with it the overall.
[7] FDJ, as they became known shortly before the Tour de France began, entered the race with a squad led by Le Mével, tenth-place finisher and best French rider in 2009.
[8] Ladagnous took a meaningless ninth place the next day, as the peloton decided not to race to the finish, neutralizing the results for all but stage winner Sylvain Chavanel.
[9] In stage 9, Casar made a breakaway of 10 riders, including such big names as Luis León Sánchez, Damiano Cunego, and Jens Voigt.
Voigt dropped back and paced them so long and so strenuously that they joined the leaders on the road, now a five-rider group including Casar, Sánchez, and Cunego.
Cunego started his sprint early and had a gap for a moment, but Casar perhaps knew the course better, taking an aggressive line on the course's final left-hand turn.