"It's fantastic to have won four stages. I didn't believe I'd do that. There aren't many stages till the finish now and my lead is consolidated. I'm pretty serene. I've wanted to leave a footprint in the Pyrenees. Even after yesterday's stage, I felt good. That's why we have kept the breakaway close to us. More than I wanted to show that I'm the strongest, I wanted the stage win. I had Hautacam in my memory since last time we rode it at the Tour de France [in 2008]. I rode it like an uphill time trial. Maybe I've attacked very early but Chris Horner accelerated. I was afraid of letting the stage win go and I reacted because of a direct rivalry with Horner. I owed the stage win to my guys after the work they had done since the start of the stage. I didn't hear the gaps very well because there was some noise from the radio. I didn't understand how far ahead Nieve was. He's a great rider. I was afraid he'd be impossible to catch.
I'm having fun at the Tour de France this year. Two years ago, it was different. The course suited Bradley Wiggins' characteristics with two long time trials where I made most of his advantage and in the mountains, he benefited from a team's domination. The Tour has been harder this year. Many stages have been demanding, since stage 2 that was very nervous. It was very different and more complicated to read the race than two years ago. I'm talking about two years ago because I didn't ride the Tour last year, so I can't say.
I've been able to keep the jersey almost all the way since Sheffield thanks to the support of my team. We've handled the race very well so far with letting breakaway go and adjusting the lead. It's not the first time that I took the leader's jersey so early in a Grand Tour. For instance I've done it at the Vuelta last year and I lost it in the last week because of many attacks coming from different riders like Rodriguez and Valverde. I've learnt from that. I've handled the tensions in the race and the way the race unfolded in a much better way.
It's normal to control the race when we lead the overall classification. I've done what I had to do with the experience I had from winning the Giro and the Vuelta, from making the podium at the Giro, the Tour and the Vuelta, from riding aggressively in the classics even when I wasn't in a great shape. I came to the Tour with a good preparation and a good team. But I'm not a boss like Lance Armstrong was. Let's leave the past behind us. I'm very clear about myself. If I have seven minutes lead, it's not because of a great performance one day. It's because of seconds I've collected here and there while my adversaries have sometimes gained something and paid the following day for their efforts. I had to deal with the pressure and understand the race. Mentally it's been a very hard race and some riders have paid for that.
My lead is so big because I succeeded in my first goal to gain time on the cobblestones. It was certainly not easy to get 2.30 there! Hadn't Chris Froome had any problem on the pavés, it would have been a difficult day for him. Something else to take into consideration is that I've centered all my season on the Tour de France while others have wanted to ride flat out at all the races they took part in, like Froome at the Tour de Romandie, like Froome and Contador at the Dauphiné… My main goal has always been the Tour de France. Also at the Giro last year, I had a considerable lead, about five minutes I think, but I don't remember well [4.43 over Rigoberto Uran].
My first nickname as a cyclist was « the flea of the Pyrenees » and now I'm finally winning in the Pyrenees. It was given to me by a friend of my father when I was a kid, I wasn't big and I dropped other cyclists in the climbs, but very quickly after that « the shark of the strait » has made everyone forget my first nickname. The « flea of the Pyrenees » was [Vincente] Trueba."
