Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) – stage winner and race leader
“I really didn’t expect this, it’s something I had always dreamed about but I didn’t think I could do it. It was a really tough climb and when I couldn’t follow Quintana I remained focused, relaxed and rode at my own pace. At the end I still had something left it was incredible. It’s a good advantage to go into the last week with but we will see how things go and the last week will be much different. It’s still a long way to Milan.”
Nairo Quintana (Movistar)
“It was a final climb quite different to what we expected. I feel like I did a great climb, giving it many tries, spending all energy I had to test my rivals’ condition. However, we saw a really strong Dumoulin, who did a fantastic climb. The wind was blowing on our tail and that might have also favoured a different type of rider. My legs responded pretty well, just as I expected them to do, and something to be optimistic is that I took a gap on some other rivals, so we can now focus on the fight against the race leader. The stages on the third week should play on my favour: those are really different to today’s, which was only one ascent, and with all climbing still to come in this Giro, we must continue to give our best. I’m sure that, as long as I have a little bit of energy left, I’ll spend it and try everything until the end of the Giro.”
Tanel Kangert (Astana)
“I felt pretty good after a couple of ‘recovery’ days in the final climb, everyone was expecting a very high rhythm and so it was.”
“As characteristics normally I prefer steepest climbs than the one we did today, anyway I did my rhythm and I finished among the strongest GC contenders”.
“There is still more than one week of race and it’s full of climbs – concluded the Estonian – I’m confident my condition will continue to grow as it grew in the last days…”.
“Exactly in the moment that the race exploded, one rider from the right side has hit my rear derailleur, breaking it – explained Cataldo after the finish – the team’s cars where far behind and I continued to climb as well as possible… it’s a pity to waste seconds this way.”
Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNl-Jumbo)
“Today, I could go a little deeper and felt better than last week,” said Kruijswijk at the top of the mountain. “I still have confidence in myself and thought, I’m just getting up to full speed and I’ll see how I can finish. Fortunately, I could keep it up. Something we can work with, but of course, I still have to better.”
Jan Hirt (CCC Sprandi Polkowice)
“My teammates did a great job helping me keep my position at the head of the bunch, before the final climb. I felt very good throughout the entire day and the profile suited me well. Outside the final climb there was no terrain, where peloton could split. I feel better and better with every day. First mountain stage of Giro, to Etna didn’t go the way I had wanted. Since then I’ve been stronger and I hope I will be able to continue that trend in the third week. This is when I would like to try my chances in the breakaway. I think that that could be a good way to hunt that stage victory or place in the top 5. In terms of general classification I don’t set myself any goals, because anything can happen. I can as well move up to 15th or drop outside top 20.”
Patrick Konrad (Bora-hansgrohe)
“The team supported me very well today. I had a good position on the busy way to the climb and also in the first kilometers, which was important to save energy. Unfortunately, the Etna stage, where I lost many minutes due to my illness, costs me a lot. But I feel much better now and looking forward to the next stages.”
Ben Hermans (BMC)
“The first 20km were really fast. We covered 48km in the first hour I think, so it was not so easy in the beginning. But, then we did take it easy so everybody had fresh legs to start the climb. It was not so easy for positioning before the climb but the climb was long enough to have the legs to go to the front.”
“I was positioned well in the beginning of the climb but then there was a crash. I was with some teammates so Dylan Teuns and Joey Rosskopf helped me to get back into the front group. I just made it back in the front when the real climb kicked off. I tried to find my rhythm and I passed some guys and didn’t lose too much time.”
“Tomorrow is a chance for the breakaway but I think a lot of guys want to try and go in it. For sure, I can try but I will not spend too much energy to get in it.”
