(On getting Ackermann's wheel) "I think he's proven he's one of the quickest here, and to be honest he was the first sprinter who came past me with a good train. So I decided to jump on him. My guys got me into a really good position where I didn't have to fight for the wheels too much. That just made my run a whole lot easier. He went quite early so I could just sit there and time my sprint to perfection.
"I think my team's done a great job all week. I think I was a little more relaxed going into this stage because I already had the one win. When you're a bit relaxed you save more energy and everything seems to fall into place a little easier.
"I think this is the most successful Grand Tour I've ever done. It just shows my progression as a rider. In the past, I've won one stage in the Vuelta and in the Giro the last time I did it. Now, I've won two and I'm just happy with how I'm progressing."
"The difference was a headwind today, and there was a narrowing of the road with 750m to go. That is where it became difficult for my lead-out men to take me to the line.
"The jersey is a consolation prize. Now we will start another Giro. In the mountains it will be a different task to defend the jersey."
"It was a long and sunny stage. So I enjoyed it very much. Tomorrow it'll be harder to keep the jersey because the main climb is a hard one. But I want to keep the Maglia Rosa tomorrow also."
"I wasn't there in the finish but I'm sure Elia [Viviani] is disappointed. We put ourselves out there at the start and we wanted a sprint so we rode on the front there for him. We got what we wanted with a sprint but not the final product.
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"I'm in a bit of pain if I'm honest. I thought with the rest day and these flat days I could come out pain free but I'm going to keep working on it. I'm not entirely sure what it is really, after the crash on stage 4 there's a bit of pain and a bit of bruising on the knee and I hope it isn't anything more serious but I'm starting to get a bit concerned because it's not going away, so we'll see.
"I can spin the legs but when I'm pressing I have pain out of the saddle, I've basically sat down the past six days."
"It was good we had the confidence in his sprinting. We stayed calm and was at the front ready for the sprinting and we stayed together as a team and that was the plan.
"For sure that headwind was massive coming from the right hand side, it's always messy and timing is critical, it's good he's a little guy.
"He's super young and he's got two wins here already. You can't just go out and give it all, you've got to be patient because if you go out too hard you'll kill yourself. He's good, he's patient and he's got a good instinct and I think that really helped today."
