Tom Boonen - "I Made It To The Finish Just In Time..."

“Today I had a puncture with five kilometers to go so I rode the final with only a little bit of pressure in my front tyre. I had to stay in the saddle and just hope that I could make it to the finish line. It was stressful. _ “I crossed the finish line and I had to wait to see how the seconds were for the next group before I knew if I would get the yellow jersey. _ “The rainbow jersey is the most beautiful one but this is what I came here for. Now everything is going okay and even though I almost stopped in the last few kilometers because of my flat tyre I made it to the finish just in time. _ “If people doubt me because I missed out on winning the first two stages, they have to doubt a lot of other riders too. But if you win 17 races in the year and you lose the first two stage of the Tour, I can understand why some began to doubt me. _ “The Cauberg is my kind of terrain. I’m sure if I had pressure in my front tyre, I would have been in the break with Philippe Gilbert and Matthias Kessler. The problem was that I couldn’t ride the way I wanted. I took a guess and I knew Kessler wasn’t a risk for the yellow jersey. I guessed that Boogerd would go and he took off with one kilometer to go and I just sped it up a little and hoped some other riders would come; then Ballan went and I just stayed in the saddle and I hoped to arrive at the finish line but I like this terrain."