Fabian Cancellara:

“Today I earned even more confidence than yesterday because a finish like this – with a hectic finale and a climb – well, yeah... the game of poker might not yet have turned out in my favor but I’m getting there. That’s a good sign.
“The team was doing a great job the whole day; they’ve done the work the whole day and that’s why I said, ‘Okay, attacking is the best defense’ at the end. In a final like that you never know and today I think we had a great end to the stage and now we’re looking forward to tomorrow for a sprinters’ day.
“Once I made my attack it would have been good to get some help. In Milan-San Remo it was the same but I’m not going to attack and ease off and end up somewhere out the back – that is not my style: when I go, then I go and really put the hammer down until the end. That’s what I’ve done. I lost this game of poker but one day I’ll win.
“I think I was the only rider to see the finish of today’s stage only 24 hours ago because after the prologue and all the work that was done – the press conference, the doping control – we went with the sports director to see the final [for today’s stage]. And I was pretty happy about those few meters with cobblestones but I was a bit scared because there were a lot of riders who, on paper, were strong.
“The team was pulling the whole day, they did an amazing job. In the end I had Peter with me and Boasson Hagen was there… and I wasn’t going to wait for the bunch.
“I earned a lot of confidence. I wouldn’t say I’m more happy than yesterday but the confidence I got today is very important for the coming stages.
“I’ve lost races like this before but next time I’ll do it better – I won’t put the joker on too early, and I’ll just put the ace down. I lost Milan-San Remo in a similar way but it is how it is. In eight years, no one will do the same with Peter Sagan in a situation like this.”