“It’s a lot of work. I finished a lot of times second in Grand Tours. I’m 34 years old, and I’m so proud and happy! My team did a perfect job. We don’t have a lot of good lead)out men, but I have Alexis [Renard]. All the climbers tried to put me in a good position with Alexis at the 5 kilometres to go mark, and then I just followed Alexis. With 500 metres, I saw Jordi Meeus, and I knew he was very fast in this type of finish. I waited, I waited, and it was headwind, so I went at the right moment with the slipstream. It’s amazing to finally get this victory.
It’s not that I wasn’t confident, but there was pressure. When you don’t do good sprints, it’s one opportunity less, and we don’t have lots of opportunities in this Vuelta. I was not in a good position in the first two sprints. I knew I had good legs. Yesterday I was in the breakaway. Maybe I’m a bit better at climbing now, but I’m still fast!"
