Chris Froome: “My rivals are definitely not demoralized”

It's been another very hard stage. Maybe for the viewers it's been calm but I can guarantee that a lot of people have left a lot of energy on the road with the temperatures and the high speed of the first two hours of racing. Actually the last two hours have been tough because of the accumulated effects of the first two hours. It's been brutal! It's a pity there wasn't TV coverage of that moment. It was exciting racing. Everyone was at the limit, the breakaway riders to stay at the front, the chasers to lead the peloton… My team-mates have kept the race under control. They were always around me, focused from km 0 till the end. We've seen guys jumping around to gain time for GC positions. For now I certainly don't need to go in the attacking. Defense is enough as guys are putting me under pressure. I've seen that my rivals are definitely not demoralized. Vincenzo [Nibali] had a tough day yesterday. He was obviously feeling well today so he got his team-mates to pull in the Tourmalet. He lost some time at the end but it means the race is not over yet and I can expect to be put in difficulty every day. Tomorrow we'll have a decisive stage finishing at Plateau de Beille and that's a tough climb! A lot of guys will feel the effects of the hard racing we've had today.