"Yes, it was a dream scenario. It was a super hard stage, uphill, downhill… It was full concentration all day and a really hard pace. The team did an amazing job. We were with still a lot of us when there were only 20 guys left in the front. Especially Robert Gesink, he did an amazing job, always coming back, always riding… And then Wilco [Kelderman] was on the front forever on the Tourmalet. Jonas [Vingegaard] had an impressive ride going from so far out. In the first climb, we heard that [Remco Evenepoel] was dropping a bit. Before that, we just wanted to ride more or less our own pace but when we heard that, we tried to extend the gap and then Bahrain took it over on the descent. There were some gaps there and from then on it was just a full on race. We knew that with the three of us up there, if Jonas went, it would force the other to ride with Primoz [Roglic] and I in the wheel. Throughout the stage, Jonas felt super good and it’s his daughter’s birthday today so it was extra motivation. It’s really early to say [if Jumbo-Visma will win La Vuelta]. Today was a really hard stage, tomorrow is another brutal mountain stage. All these efforts start to build up and there’s still a lot to race. We’re just happy with how we were able to play our numbers today. We’re in a really good position and we’ll see how we do it for the rest of the stages."
