"I was scared of [Kasper] Asgreen and I was right because he finished second after getting a free ride in the break. There was a headwind on the climb but I got up it well.
"I was always up there in this Tour but never got the results. This win makes up for it all. I had good legs but never finished it off. Today was: 'all in: everything or nothing'. I suffered like a dog but it was worth it all." (ITV)
"It was actually a really emotional finish because I've only won two races this season and doing it here in the Tour de France, on this finish line with this group in front – it was a super string group and it was just an amazing ride. I don't think anybody would've predicted attacking before that climb on this stage but it's amazing.
"I won so, probably yes [it was a perfect execution of my plan today]. Actually with such a big group it was always going to be someone can anticipate or have a go in a small group and that was the case. I was waiting until the right move and a strong guy went, Chris Juul-Jensen went across and then when I was there, he just managed to stop but all of the teams were mainly represented. Even without a good collaboration we were good enough to get ahead on the climb and I could anticipate it.
"I tried a few times actually because I knew there was no collaboration and I though maybe a ten second gap, they'd start to watch each other and then maybe I can finish it off. It wasn't too close to the climb, it was probably only one kilometre to the climb, I took ten seconds, which was enough to take the climb on my own and it was probably the most important thing to stay at my pace and not have to follow anyone. At the end, I didn't lose so I am happy with that." (ASO)
"No it wasn't the plan for us to have someone in the breakaway today but I ended up in front, after the split in the peloton and then I was allowed to go for it as long as the final didn't open up too early so I was happy with the confidence the team had in me today.
"I hope I will have some energy left for the next three days in the Alps, it's for sure going to be tough and hard days.
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"Today was hard and then the temperature dropped twenty degrees, which was good and then in the end 33 but it was OK.
"The important thing is to come in Paris [when it comes to taking the green jersey]. The next three days are very hard and tomorrow is 180 kilometres all up and down and the next day stage is crazy but I'll try my best.
"The third week in the Tour de France in very hard and I hope and believe it could be good for [Emanuel] Buchmann. I wish him good energy to stay in the front and maybe move closer to the top.
"This year could be the first year where I might struggle to get [to Paris] and we'll see how the other sprinters get on. If I get there, I'll try my best to win in Paris."
"I think I did everything right. I went in the good moves at the right moments and on the climb, I was on my limit so I have to say that there, the others were stronger. I did a good sprint in the end though and I think that winning was impossible so I tried to get the maximum out of the day and I think I did that."
"It was good to be in the breakaway with two guys, me and Michi (Schar), and it's really important to be in the right moves and on the right wheel and that's what I did well today. On the last climb, it was about the legs and I was strong but not strong enough to take the victory."
"It was really warm today and in the end, I suffered quite a lot because of it but, luckily we had that one rain shower in the middle of the race and that helped to cool us down."
Julian Dean (Mitchelton-Scott director)
"Truly amazing day, we have been going really well obviously, with three stage wins already this morning but when you've got form and the guy's morale is really high, there's no need to take your foot off the accelerator. We thought today we'd try and get either Matteo [Trentin] or Daryl [Impey] in the break again and the boys did that and did the job.
"Nothing new was said on the bus this morning but what it comes down to is that you've got to pick out things that you can use to your advantage and our advantage to use this morning was that we'd won three stages and we're going after more stages but we don't have to kill ourselves. We just have to make smart decisions,. put ourselves in the right moves and let things happen and sometimes when you have a little more a relaxed approach like we did with Simon Yates' wins things seem to fall together easier.
"It's not our of the ordinary in sport to have a series or a good run of victories and like I said when you have that relaxed feeling within the organisation and that shift to focus away from Adam [Yates] and let things happen themselves." (Eurosport)
