"It's amazing. It was a very nice TT with a lot of people on the side of the road, my whole family was here, my parents came today, my wife was here too. Also on the Belgian national day, it's pretty special. It's been a while since a Belgian victory on national day so I'm proud to be the one.
I've just been told that my teammate Lipowitz crashed, that's unfortunate, it's a bittersweet feeling to win [while this happened]. I wish him all the best and I hope it's not too bad. I will really miss him in the last week.
I need to thank Specialized for all the new material they gave me for this TT, a lot of work behind the scenes to win this ITT with such a performance. I'm just proud and happy, it’s unbelievable to take two victories in a row.
I was feeling really good, the first kilometre I was pushing and thinking that maybe I needed to hold back, thinking about my first TT when I started with a big gap, but Tadej [Pogacar] was also impressive. It was a big challenge to keep my gap with him but I’m just super happy with everything that happened. It’s been a while since I’ve been at this level, it feels amazing, but still a long road to go.
It’s no secret that the hardest stages are at the end of the Tour. I was not super good in the first week, I needed to get into the race rhythm again. I need to thank my coach and my staff. But it’s not over yet, it’s a beautiful victory but a few hard and nice stages are coming before the end.
I’m focused on my own spot, Tadej [Pogacar] is on his way to win the fifth Tour de France and it’s just amazing that I can be a bit close to him. It’s an honor to race with him because he’s maybe the best rider ever. It’s a big step forward to be a bit around him and learn from him."
