"First of all I'm happy. Yesterday I crashed, nothing happened there and today I'm very happy. I have to say thank you to all my teammates, because they did a very good job. I was trying for the victory for the team and I'm happy to do it. It's a very nice day.
"Today just us and Orica were pulling. We did a better job today, I was pissed that other teams didn’t pull because it was also a sprint for Bouhanni and John [Degenkolb] but they just came [to the front] in the final 3 kilometres. But it’s ok, I’m happy, we had to win today.
"I was on his [Degenkolb's] wheel, he started early and went one way, I went the other. The wind was an advantage and it played into my hands."
"To win for sure is special. As you know in the Tour he was five times second and in the past even more, then to win like today we were very excited. I'm super hapy for the team but also super happy for Peter himself.
"In the Tour he was so strong, but he was also using a lot of energy to go in breaks. Yesterday he was in the crash, so we said 'ok you take it easy'. He saved some energy for today. The other guys came really close in the last part but he managed to stay in front. For us it’s fantastic.
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"I have seen his face many times after second place. The first 20 minutes are not so nice, then he already looks to the next one, for the new opportunity. For sure he will be super happy. Even in the TTT we were in the hot seat and he had to stay there, then we were second and I saw his face and I was like ‘oh dear, that’s not nice’. But now for sure he will get a big release."
"I'm really excited and really happy. The team worked very well for me, amazing job, amazing guys. It's unbelievable to keep the red jersey. Today is one day and tomorrow we try again. I want it as long as possible.
"It's not just me enjoying this jersey; the team enjoys this jersey. And not only my teammates but the whole team, the staff, people in the office it's the full team and staff."
“It was a very hard day. After the first category climb a lot of riders dropped including three of us," Engels said after his sprinter John Degenkolb finished third in the stage.
“The lead-out went very well and according to our plan. Koen was the last rider before John and with a strong pull he put him into perfect position to start the sprint. Sagan and Bouhanni were just faster today.”
Ian Boswell suffered a crash with 40km to go but came out relatively unscathed. He discribed the incident to TeamSky.com
"It happened on a roundabout after a pretty stressful descent. Two guys fell down in front of me and I went into the back of them and then onto the grass. Fortunately I was OK - I only had a few scratches here and there - and my bike was fine.
"I'll definitely be good to go again tomorrow. We've got a long day ahead of us at 209.6km, but it's likely to be a sprint stage again so my job will be keep Froomey and Nico protected, the same as today.
"Things are going good so far, we've got a great bunch of guys here and I'm looking forward for the big climbs to come."
