“It was an unlucky moment when the break got away – a little bit our mistake. Both van der Poel and van Aert are very strong and it’s dangerous to allow them to get a 7-minute advantage, even with all the mountains yet to come. We immediately tried to close the gap, but we didn’t manage to do it. From then on we did a great job, working and pulling together so they didn’t get too big of a gap. I’m proud of my teammates. I know my team – I know they are very strong. Some will take tomorrow’s stage as a recovery ride. For sure, we are not the only team who suffered today. We will go day by day. It was a super demanding stage for me as well: I took a lot of wind behind my teammates and will for sure pay some toll. I guess I will just follow the rest of the contenders tomorrow. I have mixed feelings about what happened with my compatriots. Matej [Mohoric] took a win he has wanted for so long, and I’m happy for him because he is a super good guy. On the other hand, I’m not so happy for [Primoz] Roglic because he went down the other day and I can imagine how much he is suffering right now.”
