"This is a very sweet victory after such a rollercoaster of emotions in this Tour de France. I had to wait until stage 17. I had prepared very well. I was in the shape of my life, indeed! But the first stages were horrible for me. I couldn’t find myself, nor the feeling I was craving for. After 17 stages, I finally took the win. This is one for the team, that kept believing in me. I want to thank everybody. At every dinner, I was the angry bird on the table because I was so disappointed in myself, and unhappy that I couldn’t grab a stage win. The team had to deal with it - not only the riders, but the staff too. This one is for all of them. They kept believing, and fighting back until stage 17.
This victory has cost me a few years of my life [grins]. I was fighting the whole stage, sometimes between groups. At many points I thought the stage was lost, but the team kept believing. My teammates were super strong and they really delivered me to the finish line.
I have doubted myself during this Tour de France. I had done everything I could before the race, doing an amazing preparation - and I still wasn’t myself. Was it the heat, maybe something else…? I don’t know. The fact is I wasn’t at my level. It was really hard mentally. I got so much shit over and had to delete Instagram, and… Whatever. I tried to stay in a bubble with my teammates, working towards new goals. The Tour de France always is an emotional rollercoaster.
With this win, I also take a lot of points for the green jersey. Mads [Pedersen] tried really hard today. The next stages are very tough, but I will keep fighting until Paris."
