“The plan was to make the breakaway, either with me or Ion Izagirre. It was nice to be up there. I was also lucky that ten more guys came along. But in the end, UAE Team Emirates really wanted the victory today. It’s part of the sport. It was a bit frustrating because I was hoping for a stage win. It’s been seven years since I last won a stage but it’s always nice to ride the Tour de France. It doesn’t get any easier to win a stage here or anywhere, so it’s nice to be on the podium for the combativity price. My season is going good so far. I didn’t enjoy the first stages of the Tour so much. It was quite stressful but now I try to enjoy the racing as much as I can and hopefully a win will come in the next two weeks.”
