“No, I didn’t speak with Wout van Aert before his attack! It was to be expected, but I was a little bit late to react. He opened a good gap. Over the top, on the flat part, I still had to push. I finally caught him and I had to commit if I wanted to have a chance for us to make it to the finish, but I also knew he had Matthew Brennan behind, so I didn’t know what to do. I tried to stay on his wheel, hoping he would commit. It was also a lot of lactates in the legs already and I’m happy to take third place. I was just going all in for the stage.”
