The whole stage was very difficult for me. It’s the worse day I’ve had on a bike for 10 years. I guess you could see on TV how much I was suffering. Had this been a classic, I would have pulled out. Had I not had the green jersey, I may have acted differently. But I was wearing it and I was going to make it to the finish line, within or outside the time limit. Finishing this stage has been more than a victory for me. It has been really tough and I only made it thanks to my teammates Daniel [Oss], Boddy [Maciej Bodnar] and Lukas [Pöstlberger], who stayed by my side throughout the whole stage to support me.
