"I want to dedicate this win to my for uncle, who passed away just before the Giro d'Italia. I promised to win a stage for him and I did it.
"We knew the break could go because it was a difficult stage to control. I had to play my cards and went in first break, when it was caught, I knew I had to go again and it worked out."
"I'm struggling to understand what I've done. As we rode I knew it was possible and I've dreamt about it with team in last few days but there's a huge difference between dreaming and actually doing it. I felt good and I'm on form this year so I went for it.
"I have to thank the team for all the changes and all the hard work they done this year. This is a win for everyone in the team.
"I was targeting it all today but Fausto Masnada is very strong, an incredible rider. Incredible power and very strong. It was not possible for the victory but I'm very, very happy to have the pink jersey.
"It's incredible, I repeat I'm very, very happy. I don't know how long I'll hold it for, I hope a long time but it's difficult."
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
"To be honest, it was tactical, I was watching Sam Oomen and it was a surprise they [Conti and Masnada] attacked. I thought there was more headwind on the climb but I had a good feeling so I sped up on the downhill and went full gas.
"I had good legs and I'm getting better day by day. I look forward to the next stages and hope I can go in an early breakaway. We will see."
"It was a big crash, I think more than 20 riders were involved including Primož [Roglič]. Luckily, it didn't get too bad.
"When the breakaway was gone, that was the plan [to lose the pink jersey]. We didn't have the same plan this morning as you don't who will go up the road but it was ok, today was a good day. Primoz doesn't have a bad injury so we will continue like this."
