"It was crazy. It was all about positioning at the start of the stage, we had to battle with several teams, the pace quickly picked up, and we soon arrived in Rouen.
Unfortunately, I didn't have the best position at the foot of the final and decisive hill. So I couldn't be in the group behind Tadej and Vingegaard. It's a bit of a shame. But I fought with what I had.
I didn't see everything, I'll have to watch the footage again, but I definitely think we had a very good climb. I was talking about it with Mathieu [Van der Poel] earlier, he's not far off his maximum outputs!
There's definitely a very high level, it's going to be a great battle for the rest of the Tour. This is the biggest race in the world, everyone is at their best so I'm not surprised. I didn't think I'd keep the white jersey. I'm really happy to have a distinctive jersey for tomorrow's time trial, at home. I think it's just pure joy. When I climbed onto the podium with the white jersey, I received a lot of encouragement. It's just a dream."
