"It is huge to stand with Eddy Merckx on the podium. He is a hero in cycling. I don’t consider myself as a hero yet, but I hope I am inspiring lots of kids to ride their bikes. There were a few crashes and splits at the start of the stage today. It is really not nice to begin a race like this. We then kept the bunch quiet for a bit, but after the sprint we went on full attack mode. It was a pretty strange race. But then a group went away, and the bunch turned quiet again. For me it is really nice to have a cycling boom in Slovenia. We have always wanted cycling to succeed in Slovenia. Whenever I come home, it is fantastic to see how many people ride their bikes now in my country. I did a reckon of tomorrow’s ITT and it is a very fast course, not really complicated. I kind of like it. Today the legs feel really tired from yesterday’s stage. We will see how I sleep today and how I wake up tomorrow… But, of course, I will give it (victory) a go."
