Hear from Dennis, Yates, and others after 34.2km time trial
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Magia rosa Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) during the stage 16 time trial at the Giro d'Italia(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing) during the stage 16 time trial at the Giro d'Italia(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida) during the stage 16 time trial at the Giro d'Italia(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tony Martin of Germany and Team Katusha-Alpecin took the hot seat after his time trial performance during stage 16 at the Giro d'Italia(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) during the stage 16 time trial at the Giro d'Italia(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Obviously, I wanted to come here to win a stage and I was hoping for Israel to be that stage, but also this stage was a big target for me as well. To come here and repay the team for all their hard work and jump back into the top 10 is a big day for me.
[Sixth place overall] Basically, I just have to hold on for as long as possible. There's going to be guys going crazy in the last week. I think there could be some guys hurting. I think that I'll be hurting a bit as well. It's an unknown for me, when it comes to GC, riding in the mountains in the third week, so I'm just going to take it each day and try and hold onto that top 10.
I'm really happy. The first half I felt good, I had a good rhythm, and I felt OK, I felt like I was going well, I wasn't losing so much time, and I was really trying to hold my position. But in the final 10km I really died a thousand deaths. I thought I would lose a lot more but I managed to hang on, so I'm really happy.
[On keeping the pink jersey] It really changes my tactic for the coming days. I think unfortunately for the fans I can be a lot more defensive. We'll see. I have a bigger gap to the guys behind him as well - it's not only Tom. Tom's only a minute (back) but the guys behind him are at quite a lot. It's a good gap, I'll see what I can do.
It's a super fast course and it really suited me perfectly. It had a few corners but the main course was just straight, super fast and a bit of tailwind. It had a nice climb and was a bit tricky in the final with a lot of corners. Most of the track was perfect for me. I had good rhythm and I recovered well yesterday.
[While sitting in the hotseat] I hope I stay in front. There are a few good guys coming, especially Tom Dumoulin and Rohan Dennis, they can also do very well on this kind of course because they are really aerodynamic and they are in good shape. It's been a while since I have won a time trial and it would be really special for me to win here. There is still a long time to wait, but for sure, winning this Giro stage would be incredible. (Eurosport)
Not too bad. It was a very flat time trial. I tried to manage my effort. I tried to be as aggressive as possible. I think it is good to stay on the podium. From now, I have three mountain stages to try and improve or stay on the podium. I am looking forward to the mountain stages - mainly the stage on Saturday.
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I really did cramp up on the top of the climb. I don't know. It's just hard. It's stage 16, I've never done a TT after so many days of racing. It's not been easy. I think that I've done a pretty good ride considering.
If I was fresh, I would have been licking my lips at this course. I don't really come out of rest days very well. I rode the course yesterday and I felt better yesterday.
Svein Tuft (Mitchelton-Scott) - Yates' teammate and early starter
There were sections where I wasn't really pushing but you're still going 55kph. I think Tom made a really good point, if it is tailwind like I had myself, it's really hard to go that much faster.
Looking at the numbers, I didn't actually think it was too special. But we're 16 days into a Grand Tour, so I guess everyone else is in the same boat. It was just a real fight to get on the power the whole time. It's not often I can put Victor [Campenaerts] away. If you'd have asked me just before I found out I was fastest, then I'd have said it was nothing special. But I did a good job - when I knew my power wasn't quite there I really focused on getting myself tucked in.
