_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
"This is the first Tour de France for the _ team and we’re all happy to be here in this beautiful event so it’s important _ for us to be in the break to show ourselves. We have, in Feillu, a very good _ sprinter who can go for the stage wins and for the mountains we have good _ riders but today it was a goal for me to take this jersey. It was no so easy _ because the first 35 or 40 kilometers we had to go full gas because we had just _ one minute on the peloton then they let us go.
_ _“It was very hard with the rain because I _ was freezing. In the feedzone I had to put another jacket on because I was just _ so cold.
_ _“In the second sprint [for climbing points] _ I was losing to Roux and so Lieuwe [Westra] attacked and that was perfect.
_ _“I’ll hold on to this jersey for tomorrow _ at least – that’s for sure because there are no climbs in the stage – but I’ll _ also need to recover from the two days that I’ve been in the front but I hope I _ can keep it as long as possible.
_ _“I’m not someone who can stay in the group. _ It’s the Tour de France and every day that you’re in this race, there’s the _ chance for a lot of good publicity for the team and so if you can also take a _ jersey then it’s wonderful.
_ _“Lieuwe was very strong in the second
_ mountain sprint. He is just a moto! If you give him 100 meters, you will not
_ see him again. Against the peloton it’s difficult but for the group in the
_ front, it was perfect to have him there…”
