“We head over to Mont Ventoux tomorrow which is going to be a really big test. It's an extremely historical climb in terms of cycling so there'll be a lot of guys going for it to try and win. Then we've got a rest day and the last week in the Alps. The thing I'm most looking forward to in the Alps is getting them behind me – that's got to be what everyone in this position would be thinking.
“There is still everything to race for at this point; two-and-a-half minutes is nothing when you have a bad day in the mountains. I just hope to get through the Alps without any bad days and get a bit closer to Paris.
“Tomorrow's stage is a really interesting one because obviously there'll be an early breakaway that's going to go. We wouldn't necessarily be that interested in bringing that breakaway back; we're looking at general classification not the stage win, but other teams will want to bring it back so that they can race for the stage. It's going to be quite a tactical game tomorrow in the early parts of the race but once we hit the mountain it's all about who has got the legs and that part of the race is quite straight forward.
“We've still got seven really capable guys and from the outside it might look as if we've had a rough couple of days but I think, in comparison to what the other teams have had, we're doing pretty well at the moment.”
