"I'm just so happy. I've waited for this moment for such a long time. In 2015 I finished second in a Tour de France stage, and last year was just a year to forget for me - I crashed twice in the Tour. It's been a long wait. I've worked so hard this winter with Jonathan Vaughters, my new coach. My winter was so so hard, and now I've won because of my work.
"Today I thought 'ok, yesterday was a super hard stage and everyone is completely tired'.Sometimes after a hard stage I go from the start, but I didn't think there'd be just three of us. I took the first climb easy, the second climb easy, then waited for the big group. Those big groups are never easy to manage - they're like a big lottery. At the end everyone is dead, you follow attacks, again, again, again. One moment I went, I had my teammate Michael Woods back there for the sprint if it came back. With 1km to go I knew I'd won, and I'm just so happy, it's difficult to explain."
"He's just the greatest guy. It's so special to have a win – we needed this. It's awesome. The plan was for Pierre to go long and me for the sprint, and once Pierre went off I was just shutting it down, and he held on. Tomorrow is a big day. Davide Formolo is riding awesome so we're right behind him, but now we've got that win we've got that momentum."
"I was never worried. We needed to chase harder than expected, but I was never worried for my jersey. I knew the other teams would stress before us. They waited, waited, waited, for a very long time before coming to help, but that's their decision. Polanc moved above some guys but that's their problem – my jersey is safe. My boys did an amazing job today."
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
"It's very important. The whole team has worked a lot. The whole Giro we've been so close so many times, but nothing worked out. But everyone kept trying – all the staff – and I think we really deserve it.
"Every day we look for opportunities and we're prepared to do everything to try and take them, even if it means pulling on the flat to take back break. We invest in what we're doing, and it paid off eventually."
