“I desperately wanted to get on to the Contador move but I was sitting a little too far back. I was just behind Cav's wheel when he sprinted across. I think he was the last guy to get across and again it's another reminder that this race is 100 per cent open and that there is still everything to race for.
“I knew I had a really good buffer already – almost four minutes on Contador. And okay, I worked really hard to get that time gap but you can't win them all.
“It was a really tough day. I don't think anyone was expecting it to be this hard. On paper it was a flat day and it should have been a bunch sprint but with those crosswinds it definitely made the race a lot more exciting. Today we were really missing Edvald who crashed out yesterday breaking his shoulder. He could have been someone today who could have really helped us to keep at the front of the race.
“The challenge for us now is to defend the yellow jersey all the way to Paris with myself and six riders. It'll help make it an exciting race and we're up for it. We're definitely still going to try.
“Having a lost a minute there in the final, that's always a bitter pill to swallow because we've worked really hard already to get the advantage that we had and now some of that is gone...”
