Thomas Voeckler – “There is no reason to respect all traditions...”

"It was an escape that was an escape royale for us, it suited us perfectly. No one in the breakaway was within a quarter of an hour of the overall lead. And so we hardly needed to work in the peloton. We needed to be alert and roll through when we had to but we didn’t have to sit up the front all day.
“As for my emotions, it’s true that the yellow jersey creates a lot of tentions – especially on the first day you wear it but it’s also really fun.
“At the  end of the stage I was ahead because I rode the way I normally do. It’s not surprising to see myself and Philippe Gilbert on the front because we both have an aggressive temperament and that’s how we race. He is going a notch better than I am but we are attackers. And there is no reason to respect all traditions – rather than let four guys who were just with me gain an advantage, I went with them. But then I didn’t have the legs to do any more. I certainly spent a lot of energy the other day.
“For the next day days... well, you can’t look too far into the future but tomorrow I expec that the scenario could be similar to what it was like today. That would be ideal... so we’ll wait and see."