_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
“The climb just before the finish was no as _ hard as everyone was expecting. It was talked up to be something more _ significant than it turned out to be. Furthermore, the stage was rather long _ and we had a fair amount of tailwind and it was also pretty fast. We arrived _ relatively fresh and it wasn’t such a hard day.
_ _“At the end, my team-mate Jelle Vanendert _ attacked. It was expected to increase the pace to thin out the pack and make a _ selection. It didn’t turn out too bad but in the sprint I simply couldn’t find _ an opening… and anyway, Boasson Hagen was was very strong. Apparently yesterday _ he was prepared to go the distance and that’s why he attacked so early. Today _ he attacked in exactly the right place and he was very strong. If he had done _ this yesterday, he would have won too.
_ _“I didn’t win today but I came to the Tour
_ to win and wear the yellow jersey which I did after riding four-and-a-half
_ hours so my goal had already been achieved. As for the green jersey… we’ll see
_ about that.”
