"We prepared really well for this TTT. We were dreaming of yellow, with a leader like Mads [Pedersen] and also with the legs we had today with Vacek. It was really feasible. We had a setback with Skjelmose’s mechanical. He is one of the best on hills like the ones we had in the final, and I don’t want to say we would have for sure won with him, but we would have come closer. Mads and Vacek carried the team on their shoulders and really made a difference. I was in a very good position at the bottom of the final climb - still in contention for the win. Overall, we put on a very good performance and did our best.
It is nice to get things going. This discipline is quite stressful, because everything has to go perfectly for the team to succeed. I really enjoyed the race today. I expect a really hard stage tomorrow. First we have to see what kind of breakaway goes clear in the first kilometres, and then the last circuit will be super tough. I’m sure guys like Tadej [Pogacar] will attack, so we’ll have to stay on top of the race all along."
