Pello Bilbao (Astana Pro Team) – stage winner "[Making the breakaway] was a little bit improvised. At first Dario [Cataldo] was the man that had to go in the break, but today was really complicated to go in the break. In the end I also started to go in the big groups because we saw that dangerous groups were going. I tried, I had the legs until the end. "It was a really big advantage [to have Zeits in the breakaway] because Andrey was pulling really hard. That's why we kept a gap to be more relaxed and to only think of the victory. He did impressive. “I knew I could attack my rivals. Formolo was the rider to beat but I sensed he was feeling the pressure to win. I waited for my DS to tell me when to go and went. It was a long final kilometre but I had something left and could win.ADVERTISEMENT "It was a really important day for me today. It took a long time to get my first victory in a three-week race. This was only possible with a big team like Astana. Thank you to all of the team." Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates) "It's been very difficult to retain the Maglia Rosa because it looked like the whole peloton wanted to break away today. There were strong GC riders like Rojas and Bilbao at the front. Luckily UAE Team Emirates is very strong and dedicated too. I'm very happy to keep the lead." Pavel Sivakov (Team Ineos) "It was really tough, it was really full on. Nobody wanted to let anyone go, i think everyone remembers a few years ago [2010] when Arroyo nearly won the Giro d'Italia. It was a really hard stage, I think at one moment it was a really small group of the favourites so really full on all day. Even when the break went, UAE Team Emirates didn't want to give up the jersey, so it was still hard to the finish line. Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Soudal) Jack Bauer (Mitchelton-Scott) Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) - Abandoned Hugh Carthy (EF Education First) Ben O’Connor (Dimension Data) Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) Conor Dunne (Israel Cycling Academy)
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com.read full article
