Giro d'Italia 2018: Stage 8 finish line quotes

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Richard Carapaz (Movistar) - stage winner and best young rider

I'm very happy, I have done a lot of work ahead of the Giro. Of course having the first Grand Tour win - it's emotional.

I had good legs, so I decided to attack from far out - more than 2km to go. I decided it was the right time to go alone, because I knew I couldn't win in a sprint.

(On his ambitions for the overall) I'll take it day by day. There is still a long way to go to Rome, but I'm here to see what I can do at the Giro.

David de la Cruz (Team Sky)

It was a nasty climb the surface was really slippery. [Froome] had some bad luck and he crashed but as a team we went well and we brought him to the front and finally we made it through. It has been a hard Giro for us but we are going well, we are keeping the motivation high and we are sure that the team can win the race and go for it.

It was a hard week for all of us but we are getting better day by day. We are riding our stages and from now on the parcours is better for us. Now is our time and we have to do it.

Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) - race leader

We wanted to be in front for the climb. We knew because of the rain in the final, the hairpins would be very slippery. We wanted to take them in the front. We rode an even tempo. It was a very hard start, so maybe the breakaway didn't have good enough legs to stay away.

Maybe I would have liked to take some bonus seconds in the final, but I got a little boxed in and I couldn't get out to sprint. It's one of those things.

The climb wasn't that difficult. It would have been very hard to make a big difference. Tomorrow is a much more difficult climb. We'll have to see - if I have legs, I'll try. If not, I won't. (Eurosport)

Dayer Quintana (Movistar)

Richard was really strong today. The most important thing was to show how strong we are as a team.

I have to take it day by day, so far he showed that he’s going very well but we will have to see.

Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott) - Mountains classification leader

We kept the jersey - that was the objective for the team, to keep the jersey as long as possible.

(Is Carapaz now a GC threat?) He’s a really strong rider, congratulations to him for the stage and to his team. The final was very nervous with the rain, he did the corners very well, with great confidence. Congratulations to him.

We’re happy with one more day in pink.

Jack Haig (Mitchelton-Scott)

Especially on the climb with so many hairpins you can take a better line and conserve a bit of energy. You can kind of hurt a few people of they’re on the back and that was the strategy today.

We wanted to keep the breakaway at that five-minute mark. We were happy if they arrived at the finish line first but it just turned out with the weather that the pace in the peloton went up.

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