There was no real stress when Dan Martin attacked. We knew we had 7’ lead. I feel pretty cool. A day like today is always funny. You don’t want to push. I’m not thinking of winning the Tour de France. I take each day as it comes, just worry about the next stage. To wear the yellow jersey is unique. I’ve thought of this since I was a kid. I’m kind of used to it after I’ve been in yellow at Paris-Nice, the Dauphiné and a few days at the Tour already last year. The yellow jersey is definitely a confidence...

It was a nervous start with a hill right after the flag off. It was windy too. It put everyone in the red. It was definitely not a relaxed day. I tried to break away for KOM points. I took the first ones available but I didn’t manage to be part of the decisive move. It was a big group including Niki [Terpstra]. My legs weren’t at 100%, so I tried to spend the less possible energy.

We had the instruction to put one of us in the breakaway if it was a numerous one. I tried to be that one rider once but it wasn’t the right move. Luckily, Silvan Dillier managed to represent us at the front in case of necessity to relay [Romain Bardet]. I had good legs today. I hope it’ll be the case again after the rest day.  

If I almost have the same number of points as in 2016, I have to score more points then. There are six stages left. I didn’t really enjoy my day of racing today. I went to the breakaway firstly to take Rafal Majka there. Some riders started attacking before the climb, then it was too hard for me to stay in the front.

This is my first time at the Tour de France. I’m so happy to take a stage victory. I have to thank my team a lot. They really believed in me. We played it well with Michael [Valgren] in the finale. We were both strong. We attacked a few times earlier in the race to get rid of some fast riders. Since the Alps, we remained focused around Jakob Fuglsang, our leader on GC, but we marked those two stages as we believed a breakaway could win. It’s unbelievable to have won both back to back. I’m very happy to win at my first participation...

Behind Jasper Stuyven who made an impressive move, we didn’t have the best organisation but Yves Lampaert and Philippe Gilbert did a big work for me. I remained focused on the final climb but I didn’t know it. I didn’t dare to follow Fraile. I attacked a bit too late. I’m disappointed to come so close to the victory but I have no regret. The strongest has won.

I was confident to bring Jasper Stuyven back. He had been alone at the front for a long and there was a strong head wind in the final hill. I decided right from foot of the climb to chase him as soon as possible. The truth is that I find it incredible to have won the stage to Mende. It’s a very famous one in Spain. When I started my career, I didn’t imagine to win a Tour de France stage. Firstly, I took it as a great news to have been selected for the Tour. In the first week, I realized how hard the race was but I coped with...

I wasn’t sure what to expect but we can be satisfied with how it went. Tom Dumoulin was impressive. Like at Alpe d’Huez, we didn’t know if he was suffering or not. I’d be worried if I had no team-mate around but it wasn’t the case. I’m happy with the situation we’re in now. We’ll go through tomorrow’s stage then we’ll make a plan for the Pyrenees. I’m still in the unknown. We’ll work as a team, that’s for sure.

The whole stage was unexpected for me. I hadn’t planned to ride at the front today but probably it wasn’t harder than if I had stayed in the bunch. To finish 4th is completely unexpected. I’m very happy with that. I never thought I could win the stage. Julian Alaphilippe was too strong for me when he attacked. There was a lot of head wind in the finale and what a hard climb to finish with! 

I gave it all. In the morning we had a plan to go in a break. We went as long as possible. I was happy to be at the front with Thomas De Gendt who is a breakaway specialist but it didn’t help us because the bunch didn’t give us any time. It was a maximum of two minutes. I tried it all at the end. I was hoping for a lot of corners in the city. It didn’t work out because there were massive roads towards the city with a lot of head wind.