Tom Pidcock, who was somewhat fooled by Corbin Strong, concludes: "I feel fresher again, and that’s a good feeling with the goals we have"

“I'm happy with the win, but we wanted to try and take the leader's jersey today. For a sprinter, Corbin did a fantastic job on the climb today,” the Q36.5 leader said, offering a well-deserved compliment. “Tomorrow will still be an important stage to take the overall win, but it will be tough when you see how strong Corbin and his team are riding.”

“After a lot of training and a long time off the road, I feel fresher again, which is a good feeling with the goals we have,” said Pidcock, who will soon be riding the Vuelta. “I have to thank the team. Frederik Frison did a fantastic job at the front. He rode about 140 kilometers all by himself with no help. The team also supported me very well on the climb, so this victory is also thanks to them,” Pidcock also thanked Milan Vader and Sjoerd Bax.

Strong said the day before that he didn't expect anything from himself, but that turned out to be a bluff. I didn't want the guys to think about me today, so I bluffed a little yesterday by saying that this last climb was too challenging for me. I was confident that I could ride a good race, and I'm happy to hold on to the leader's jersey. Unfortunately, my legs cramped up badly in the sprint and I couldn't finish. I lost the stage win to Pidcock, but I'm still happy to have kept the leader's jersey for the final stage."

“I knew the last corner was coming with 200 meters to go, so I thought I could let him go into the corner first and then try to catch him. Unfortunately, the last corner was a bit longer than I expected,” Strong explains. “In hindsight, I think I should have gone earlier, but that might not have changed the outcome, because the sprint felt very long to me anyway. I think the best man won today.”

What does he expect from the final stage? “Tomorrow's course suits me well, but riding in the lead makes it harder to secure the victory. It will be a very open race on a very difficult course. Everyone will be very aggressive because the differences in the classification are still very small. My team has done very well here, so I hope we can control the race and secure the overall victory.”

In third place, we saw XDS-Astana's points man Christian Scaroni. “The team did a great job tackling the climb from the front positions, with riders like Aaron Gate, Cees Bol, and Davide Ballerini. I have to thank them for the incredible work they did for me.”

“Maybe I would have preferred a harder and longer climb, but that's how it was today. Anyway, we finished with a nice third place and Clément Champoussin came fourth, so tomorrow we'll see if we can do something to improve the classification.”

“Overall, I'm happy with my form, and I hope I can achieve good results in September and October as well. In any case, I think we've already shown something. We're on track and we don't intend to stop,” said the Italian.