"I wouldn’t say my performance was disappointing, but I would have liked to have fresher legs in the final kilometer - I wish the race had finished under the flamme rouge! It was a great effort by UAE Team Emirates to set up the climb and Tadej’s attack. Just Jonas and I were able to cope with his pace, and that’s one of the many positives to take from today: that I was able to stay with the two best climbers in the world on a very steep hill. Afterwards, once we entered the final kilometer, I could feel my legs were full of lactic acid. I lost 12'', bonus included, to Tadej today - yet I don’t care, because next week gaps will be measured in minutes. I’m happy with how things are going.
It’s pretty bad to lose Mattia Cattaneo, because he is my number one bodyguard both in the flat and in the mountains. He made the right call by quitting the race, because he had crashed hard and was feeling some headache. Losing him is yet another reason for us to just follow the super teams, without taking matters in our own hands. Visma and UAE are the ones that decide how the race unfolds. If they want to create chaos, they do. If they want to bring the break back, they can do too. They are just super powerful."
