“After winning this stage, I can confirm that the Col de la Bonnette is a scary climb. When you use it in training, you can skip the last kilometre but in the race, today, it was very hard. Between the Giro and the Tour, I had a hard training period and I knew today's last climb very well. With the team, we planned it well and we did exactly as we said. Our race was 100% perfect. My goal today was to win the stage, but as I approached the last two kilometres, I felt a little drained. I still caught Richard Carapaz and Simon Yates and I could catch up with Matteo Jorgenson. When it was time to pass him, I pushed as hard as possible to overtake him with speed. He was very strong today, as were all the guys in the breakaway. Hats off to them. I'm very happy. Reaching the score of fifteen Tour stage victories is quite formidable. Now I have a good lead. Tomorrow I can let the escape go to the end. I will do the last two days of the Tour on the roads where I have trained my entire professional career.”
