"I didn't have the best feeling from the very start of the race. Even on the flat sections, my legs felt heavy. On the climbs, I tried to find my rhythm and do a kind of 50-kilometre time trial. It was a long battle against myself, with my head and my legs.
It’s not that I raced smart – it was just the only way to race today, I couldn't race any other way. I fought with the Paris podium in mind. After all, the gaps to Tadej [Pogacar] were very big, but with the others it was okay. I hope to be better tomorrow so I can do something with the time trial. I want to stay calm and, day by day, forget about this bad day.
Tadej was head and shoulders above everyone else today. There are still ten days of racing left, but he's taken a big step towards winning the Tour de France. Some teams rode today as if they were there to support him and UAE, which is not the right way to do things. The mentality needs to change, especially when the Yellow Jersey is already so far ahead."
