"I thought I was too far back, but then a gap opened up on the right side. I had the same feeling I had back when I got my first big win at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, when I also was too far back and then found the right space to hit the front and win. It’s unbelievable.
This is the biggest win of my career so far. It means everything to me. When I came here, I knew there were two or three faster sprinters than myself yet it was possible to claim a victory if I put out a good sprint. Sometimes I’m really confident and I believe in myself, but there are many times when I feel super tired and that it’s impossible to win. It’s crazy this happened today after yesterday’s crash. I felt really shit at the start, but then my body got going and I felt better in the final thanks to the adrenaline. As a team, we have had some high and lows in this race, so it’s incredible I could finish this off for us. It’s just starting to sink in, so I’ll probably be more enthusiastic in the coming minutes… This has been a big surprise for me.
It was a strange sprint. We had to be at the front with 6 kilometres to go, and then the fight for position stopped because all the favorites were where they wanted to be. We sprinted into the last corners and I tried to save energy there, even if I lost some places. Then the gap opened up, and suddenly I saw Cees Bol with a gap and I tried to sprint up to him, hold back for a bit, and the sprint flat out. It was 250 meters to go and I expected for a guy like Merlier to overtake me in the final meters… but, this time, it didn’t happen."
