Quotes

"It was my mistake, I have no excuse. I was going too fast through a bend. I’ve developed the habit of overtaking riders on the descent to make up places without spending too much myself, but it’s a risky strategy. Today I paid the price; I took too many risks. I misjudged a bend. I was going too fast. I apologise to all the riders I may have put in danger. I ended up between the ditch and the gravel; we were going down at 70 km/h and I skidded on the tarmac, burning myself all over.

I thought I wouldn’t be able to get back on. I was absolutely knackered,...

"I’m happy with how it went. With such a big group, I didn’t have to work too hard. It was tough in the final stretch, but before that no one really challenged me for the points, so it was brilliant to be able to do that today. I said this morning that I was betting on Uno-X to cause chaos and turn the race upside down… They did it masterfully; they were key players, just like Tudor and Red Bull. They maintained very fast paces in the valleys and that’s what allowed us to see it through to the end.

We’d also thought about Guillaume [Martin...

"This is one of the most beautiful days in my career. Everyone saw the crash [in Clasica Jaen]. I always stayed positive afterwards and now to win here in the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, in the Dauphiné region… It’s an area I really love. My girlfriend is from here. Today we passed a lot of my training roads. I’m really really happy.

It was a really crazy day. We had been talking about this day for some time already. Two days ago, I lost six minutes and it was a bunch sprint. With my Scottish teammate Callum [Thornley], we were talking...

"It was a slightly calmer day, less stressful, and the team did a great job again at the end to get me into position, so everything went well. I’m a bit tired. My legs feel a bit heavy. It’s not the best I’ve ever felt. But I think today’s stage also gave me a chance to recover a bit.

I hope to have fire in my legs tomorrow to defend this jersey! I’ll be on home turf as well. We’re passing through Albertville and I know the finish at Crest-Voland well. There’ll be people out there supporting me at the side of the road and...

"It was a long battle. There were quite a few attacks before the right one got away. I’d picked out the right riders to follow, but we used up a lot of energy just to stay at the front. Once I was in the breakaway, I was sure we’d make it to the finish because there were some really strong riders there. In the end, the pace was really fast behind us; I’m quite surprised. We missed the mark a bit, but Matteo still finished third, so it’s a good day.

It was a great breakaway. Everyone took their turns like in a team time trial, so it didn’t...