"There couldn’t be a better way to lose the Tour de France than this. I gave it all today thinking of the GC. I will leave the race with no regrets. There is still one stage left I might win before Paris, and I will push for it. Jumbo-Visma has been perfect in this Tour de France. Chapeau to them, as they have been really strong every day. As for today, the best man won. Jonas [Vingegaard] was stronger than me. I already gave it all on the second-to-last climb, but I feel I still had something left for an attack on the final climb. Unfortunately, I crashed, and the crash took its toll from me. I tried to follow the Jumbo-Visma guys all the way to the summit, but they were too strong.
I have nothing but respect to Jonas Vingegaard. I think we respect each other a lot. When he decided to wait for me after my crash, he was on a good position to do it as he had teammates all over the road. It was fine for him to wait. It’s me who wanted to go fast on the descent, but I pushed it too far and crashed – can’t blame anyone for that."
