Quotes

“When we started, it looked like it was going to be a nice day. We were hoping for a good weather the whole day but in the last climb it was so cold… Half of me was just saying ‘ok let’s get to the finish as fast as possible”, that was the only thing I wanted to do. I’m happy with the jersey and I hope to defend it tomorrow although the last day is going to be a difficult day. The short format will make it a hard and interesting racing with the jersey, it might not be as enjoyable as when I won the Dauphiné two years ago. I took...

“It’s really nice for the team and it’s a gift for Chris [Froome] also. I felt pretty strong all day. The team did an amazing job. 500 metres before the line, I thought it would be difficult to catch the two guys away but in the last corner I came and just round over them. It’s very nice to win here.”

“It’s been a really difficult day. I wanted to do something good this week, especially today. My two rivals have tried to play with me a bit in the last hill. I told the [Gregor] Mühlberger I’d stay behind him if he didn’t want to cooperate. I knew he’d be explosive in the sprint. Fatigue is picking up after the bad weather we’ve had some days at the Dauphiné. Even though we had a big advantage, we rode hard all day. It’s been a nervous finale. I launched my sprint the latest possible. Passed the finishing line, I look...

“It wasn’t a full gas stage. That’s what you expect when it’s not a mountain top finish. The three guys away were quite far on GC, everyone else was happy with what we were doing. In the last climb, we expected the race to be a little harder. It’s a short stage tomorrow and the day after, so I’m sure a lot of guys want to break away. There’ll be a long climb of 20km to finish with. I almost haven’t done anything like that this year yet but I feel good. It’s hard to say what will happen. We’re all still very close...

“We knew it’d be curvy in the last two kilometres and it’d be very difficult. It was necessary to hit the front early. I had a good position. I positioned myself on Julian Alaphilippe’s wheel and behind the guys from Bora, it was just perfect. I launched the sprint in the last bend. As I passed Julian, it was won. It’s a great week. I wanted to try and sprint because my second place on stage 3 gave me confidence. Honestly, I didn’t expect to beat a rider like Bennett. I’m taking profit of my form. But now that I’ve done a good...

“There weren’t so many points up for grabs in the last four days, so I’ve been trying to save some energy for tomorrow. Today we were going for Joris Nieuwenhuis but towards the final, I lost him so I couldn’t help him anymore and I dropped back. Stage 6 is the day I can keep the polka dot jersey, which is what I really want. That’s what I’m aiming for. I strongly hope to make the breakaway tomorrow.”

“Nothing really happened until about 60km to go. The wind was picking up a little bit but still, it wasn’t the right direction or it wasn’t strong enough to do anything. So it was just a bit of stress in the peloton. No more. I don’t know much about tomorrow’s finale in particular. The downhill at the end could be decisive but it’s not worth risking your life for gaining ten seconds. Any stage from now on is pretty hard, the last two are quite short and selective but as I said yesterday I’m feeling good. The sensations are good.”

"We knew it would be a hard day but it was a very good course for me, really. These big long straights aren’t my favourites but I put my head down and rode the climb as fast as possible. I made a good time. It was a good day for me. It’s a sprinters’ stage tomorrow, so hopefully other teams will be eager to control. It’ll be a massive task to bring the yellow jersey till the end. I hope to do it but I’ll take it day by day. It’s gonna be tricky. I’m sure the mountain stages will be hard to control."  

It’s a great win. I can’t believe it. I worked a lot on my time trialling these past few weeks but I didn’t expect to win today. I’m super happy. Obviously it was a good course for me on the long straight roads. I knew before that I was a good time trialist but I never had a chance to focus on it and I never had the right material before. Now with a very experienced team it makes a big difference. This was my first TT for Jumbo-Visma and I directly won it. It’s my first WorldTour victory too. I definitely proved on this Dauphiné that it’s...

“I didn’t know exactly what I could expect from this sprint but I’ve wanted to try to see how I could go. The only way was to accelerate pretty early but on this terrain, Bennett is too strong for me, so it’s already a good result for me to come second in this bunch sprint.”