"It was an incredibly hard stage. We wanted to try and go in the breakaway just to test Quick-Step. We knew it would be a hard day to control. That was the primary objective. We were in there with Dylan [van Baarle], Jan [Tratnik], Attila [Valter] and they rode super, I have to thank them a lot for the work they did. The whole day I felt super super good. I was only thinking about when to go, when to try and make the difference. The whole climb I was just enjoying the environment that we have in the Vuelta. It’s always a special race for me. No, no, I’m not here to win La Vuelta! For me, to win a stage is amazing. Durango is a town of mountain bike legends so I knew Lenny Martinez’s father. It’s very cool to be racing with his son but it’s also a realisation of how much older I am than this young guy!"
