"You just have to be patient and the victory will come. I have to say thanks to all my teammates. They did a very, very great job, and finally victory came at the Tour de France for us. It's very nice.
"We controlled the race all day, on the flat part until the finish. I did my best, and it just came. If I don't win, then everybody is going to ask me what is missing. But see, nothing is missing. It's just that everybody needs good luck and to have a good day for a win."
"My gears just stopped working and I had to change bikes. The guys were great, they were right there. It was almost the worst moment of the race – two minutes later would have been the worst moment. Jasper [Philipsen] was incredibly strong, Vegard [Stake Laengen] was there and Sergio [Henao], too – we didn’t even need him but they brought me back to the front. It was a good team effort and hopefully that’s the end of my mechanicals.
"Today was about saving as much energy as possible. Hitting those climbs today was a good little taster for the legs. Tomorrow is a really big stage. It’s going to be a really hard day – possibly the hardest of the Tour – and everyone will be fresh and explosive.”
"In the finale I knew it was important to stay up front. My first goal was to protect the yellow jersey and to arrive safe. I tried to be in good position for the sprint, but in the end I just finished in the group. I’m really happy to have another day in yellow.
"For sure [Thursday's stage 6] will be an important day for the GC riders. Everyone wants to try something, and yeah, for me also I will try to do my best to keep yellow, but for sure it will be hard."
"It was nice. It never went too hard. It was nice to get a bit of climbing in the legs and build up for tomorrow.
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"[The climb of La Planche Des Belles Filles] is hard. I’ve done it before and did it just before Suisse. That sort of climb favours the punchy, pure climbers – say Egan, for one. Then on the other teams you have guys like Yates, Richie, Quintana – it suits those guys, but when you’ve got good form you’ve got good form, and it will just be interesting to see where everyone is."
