"It’s nice to be back in the white jersey. I’m quite happy with how the day went. It was quite a hard one, since UAE did an excellent job - all their riders had an exceptional day and rode at a really tough pace. I’m glad [Mattias] Skjelmose and I could be up there, making it to the finish line with the podium contenders group and putting time on some rivals. Tadej [Pogacar] is on a different level right now. He is basically racing a different race. Yet, on the podium race, we are quite close to each other.
I have to do my best every day. We reckon there are five or six riders aiming for the two available steps of the podium, and it’s going to be a tough battle all the way to Paris. We just focus on ourselves, day by day. ‘Skjelly’ did a pretty good ride today, and we are both quite happy.
In the valley I was just at my limit - and ‘Skjelly’ too. Jonas drove us to our very limit. I for one was riding at 450 or 460 watts just to hold his wheel. I would have loved to cooperate with him, but his pace was just too much for me."
