"To be honest, I wanted the stage win today but our clear priority was staying in the overall lead. This side of the Col de la Loze is easier than the one we did in 2023 - that was much worse. Whenever we climb that side again, I’ll definitely go for the win. As for today, when Visma accelerated in the Madeleine I thought we may get a good shot to play for the stage. We were quite fast on the downhill, but then the group got super small and there was no cooperation whatsoever in the valley, so I waited for my teammates to come back and it took a long time. At the bottom of the climb, my guys started to pull and I was hoping we would bring the break back - yet Ben O’Connor was very strong and managed to defeat us.
I’m happy I had good legs and kept the Yellow Jersey. It was difficult to make any difference today. I was a bit scared of this stage, but it turned out to be a beautiful day. I expect tomorrow to be another big day, similar to today. Visma will try everything, yet we are strong as a team and I hope we will survive so we can reach the Champs-Elysées in yellow on Sunday."
