“In the intermediate sprint, there were only five points up for grab but it didn’t cost me any energy to go for it. It would have been stupid not to try and I love to compete. It was my second time climbing to La Planche des Belles Filles with the gravel section at the end. I was already here in 2019, it’s really spectacular. As for myself, I hadn’t planned anything. At the end, I could enjoy the climb. I’ve seen many Belgian fans. Very quickly, we’ve seen that UAE Team Emirates was taking the race under their control, it meant that Pogacar was there for winning. He really wanted this stage and he made it. However, we have showed that we can challenge him with Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic in the mountains. So I still believe in the overall victory for Jumbo-Visma.”
