"I just tried to get in a good wheel and I was lucky to have a good run through the corner and could carry on the speed. I think it was [Nils] Politt from Katusha-Alpecin, I was sitting on his wheel through the corner and managed to keep the speed so I’m happy that I managed to get through the corner in such a good position and finally I could get a lead-out from someone else and not me making a lead-out for someone else and opening it up too early. I was happy for that but getting to the final was the hardest part with all of the climbs and the high speed during the stage.
"I really enjoy racing here and I’m often in good shape after good training periods so it seems to be on track. I hope it’s a good start for me and a good start for the team and we’re on track for what’s coming later on in July and later on this week, hopefully."
"I'm definitely a lot fresher at this point in the season than I was at this point last season having done the Giro. At that point I was also on the back of three Grand Tours.
"I feel fresh, I feel motivated and I'm looking forward to racing. I feel a huge difference both mentally and physically. I feel like a different person. I guess the motivation is a bit different. I'm trying to fight for a fifth title."
"Good day. I was just trying to stay out of trouble, it was a bit of a day where the GC guys were just marking each other a bit, nobody really wanted to make any aggressive moves and the sprinters wanted to sprint so I think it was just kind of a status quo day you know.
"I think there was a bit of an expectation for it to be aggressive. I think actually on the team bus we thought it would be a bit more aggressive you know but I think everyone just kind of neutralised each other. [Bjorg] Lambrecht went, and it was an impressive move when he went, but I think everyone else was just kind of let’s look at each other and save it for another day.
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"Legs are feeling good, I’m excited for the rest of the week."
"It was quite a shock to the system, it was a hard day. I mean we had a good day with young Niklas Eg in the breakaway and the guys were good around me, it was hard stage but I don’t think it was a stage where you can really read into who’s where but it was a nice stage to get done. It was a technical finish with the rain and everything but it’s good to start again.
"It split a bit there on the climb with about 17 kilometres to go but I was in a good enough position to get to the front and stay there."
Julien Vermote (Dimension Data) – part of the early breakaway
"I think it’s a really big win, the Dauphine is a really hard race, it would be great to take a victory here with the team and Edvald [Boasson Hagen] was the main goal. It was good to be in the break and it was also the plan so we could take it easy behind, he won last week too in Norway so I think the team is getting better and that’s nice."
