I'm amazed. I attacked with three kilometres to go and gave it everything. I wanted to see who would move because Team Sky was setting a fast pace. I wanted to see what they had. The final 300 metres were terrible but then when I look back with 200 metres to go and I knew I'd got it.
Winning in the tricolore jersey is a huge satisfaction. I had a very difficult spring but luckily, with a lot of hard work, things started to go my way.
I've won stages at the Giro and at the Vuelta; I was only missing one at the Tour de France. Vincenzo is a friend and I'm happy to win here like he did in 2014. Watching him win in videos helped me know how to ride the climb.
I didn't know I'd taken the polka-dot jersey too. It'll take me a few hours for it all to sink in. I'll need to watch the video a few times to enjoy it.
Chris Froome congratulated me after the stage. That's nice from a three-time winner. We're going to fight each other for three weeks but it's important to fight right to the end of the race.
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
The intent was not to lose a lot of time on any of the other GC guys. We were in a great position coming into the stage in first and second, and I think we can still take a lot away from that, having swapped positions with Geraint. But we're still first and second on GC and I think we can take a lot of confidence away from that.
This isn't the first time I've been in yellow, it was much more overwhelming back in 2013. I've got used to it now and this is going to be the hardest fought battle I've ever had on GC. My rivals are right up there, especially on a course that's very open.
The goal is to keep the jersey all the way to Paris, but it's not going to be easy. The race is still wide open.
It's an amazing feeling to be back in yellow but the race is far, far from over. As a team we're in a great position, it gives us options, we can play both cards. We perhaps made a little bit of a mistake giving Aru that much space because Fabio showed he had great form in the Dauphiné and we're going to have to mark him in the next couple of weeks.
My team were fantastic today; they really took the race up. Sky didn't really want to go for the stage but it worked out quite well for us. We used two guys – we weren't burning many matches at all, it was hard on the wheel too.
I think Aru is absolutely flying at the moment so he's one of the guys to watch for sure. He jumped away there, Sky tried to chase but he was super strong so hat tipped to him.
I'd have liked to have been up there more for the stage but Fabio was super strong today. I think Sky were good but not as dominant as before. Froome's obviously in great form also, I think he's still the big favourite here. We saw last year he took up and then exploded on one of the last stages so I think I tip my hat to him today, it's a good ride, but I think there's a little more pressure on him now.
I think Astana are going to have more work now. I don't think they're going to get away with sitting back and jumping away like that again. So I think it's a good signs for the race. I'm happy with my ride for the first mountain stage. I kind of expected a little more but it's a long way to go.
When Froome did his usual squeeze he dropped quite a few guys. He’s obviously going better than in the last race we saw him, but Team Sky were not quite what they were probably last year.
I'm gutted to not win again, but we're getting closer. It was a really good performance.
It was just unlucky that Fabio got a gap there, he was super strong. I think he made a really good moment to attack. It was really hard when he attacked and I think he chose the moment well. I thought with the flat section maybe he'd come back.
In the end we looked at each other, and there was a bit of hesitation and tactical, and he got a bigger gap. I thought it was closing down in the finishing straight, but it wasn't to be.
I always try. There's not many summit finishes this year at the Tour and I think you've really got to take every opportunity. Of course there's a lot of strong guys still not really that far behind me [in the best young rider classification] so it's going to be difficult to try to keep a hold of it, but I'll give it my best shot.
I have to be cautious; always on the front foot, never try to get caught out. There's a lot of intermediate stages, maybe some wind and I'm only a small guy, so it's difficult for me to be there with the big guys fighting it out in the crosswinds or whatever. But we have a great team for that and I'm sure the guys will look after me as well as possible. I'll just try my best.
[Asked how much advice Adam has been able to give him about riding in white] It's difficult because every race is different. Of course you get the small things they can pass on, especially doing things with the media, he's given me a few [pieces of] advice about that but it's really difficult to say, 'this moment is going to happen' because things change a lot in the Tour, so it's very difficult to give very specific advice.
Alexander Vinokourov - Astana team manager
This win is so important for us. We won here with Nibali and he went on to win the Tour [in 2014]. Aru wanted to win today in his Italian champion's jersey and he did it.
Jakob also rode well today and was just a little bit behind with Contador. It was the first real climb of the Tour and the so the Tour has only just begun.
We saw at the Dauphine and the Italian championships that Fabio was on form and he wanted to try something today. It worked out and he won, in the Italian jersey too. That's great for our moral. Now we'll see what happens in the rest of the tour and especially this weekend. They're two real mountain stages.
To subscribe to the Cyclingnews podcast, click here.
