Silvan Dillier (BMC) – stage winner
“Basically the stage started pretty bad for me. I had a flat tire at KM 0. I chased back and I could go straight away in the breakaway. At the end, it was pretty hard to stay away. To beat Jasper Stuyven in a sprint like this is crazy. I still can’t believe this. I know the harder the race, the better it is for me. The final was really hard and Jasper Stuyven is a really strong rider. I had some concerns about him. To win a stage against him is crazy. It feels great.”
Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo)
“They always say that if you are close, it will come, but there are not that many opportunities; you have to take them when they are there,” said a dejected Stuyven. “It didn’t happen today, and that is actually pretty sh**t,”.
“They said it was going to be a tailwind, but it was not really a tailwind all the way,” pointed out Stuyven. “When we came into the crosswind section before the feed zone, I was not so positive that we would make it. At that point, it was really hard. But I think we managed it well and Mads – he just pulled like an animal today!”
“The finish was 8%, so it was pretty hard, and I know Dillier is a strong guy, so I was paying attention to him. Of course you are tired after such a long day and after a sprint, but most of all because I am really disappointed actually.”
Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) – maglia rosa
“Having a breakaway with no rider posing any danger to the general classification was the perfect situation for us. We were hoping the escape will go all the way, so that they mop up the bonus seconds. In the peloton, all I had to do was keep a close eye on my opponents in the closing kilometers, which worked out well. So far, it’s been a great race for us, we have pink, white and ciclamino, and we’ll continue enjoying these moments”
“As I’ve already said, I hope to keep the maglia rosa until Sunday, when we’ll arrive on Blockhaus. We’ll see there how I’ll cope with the climb, but the good things is that two days later the Giro schedules an ITT, where I will have an opportunity to gain time on the climbers.”
Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-hansgrohe)
“I took the chance and went into the break today. In the final I knew I had to go earlier than the others, but after 200 kilometers in front, you didn’t know how your legs are. Today mine haven’t been good enough in the end and I took third place, which still makes me really happy. But I will try it again for sure in the next days, I still feel the flow from the pink jersey and my journey at this Giro is not over yet.”
Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo)
“I’m not physically in my best shape, but that’s why I just have to maintain my position in the GC and just think about Sunday. If I get there without losing any seconds I’m satisfied. Hopefully I’ll have had a little extra recovery from my crash and do something there.”
Filippo Pozzato (Wilier Triestina)
“We worked hard to chase the break but the other teams didn’t want to help. Quick-Step Floors didn’t want to work because they had the jersey and have worked hard already in the Giro.
“Unfortunately we let the break get too much time and it was impossible to pull them back. Other teams came to work but it was too little too late. Teams like Dimension Data and UAE should have done more.”
Adam Yates (Orica-Scott)
“I felt pretty good at the end there but the break stayed away,” Yates said. “With a stage like this it’s always a bit of a gamble as to if the sprinters can get over, if it’s for the climbers or for the punchier riders.”
“The stage was almost 220km so you’d be working all day for a gamble that might not even come off.
“No teams really wanted to chase. It was only really Cannondale and in the end Michael Woods was first across the line in our group so it would’ve have been worth it for them.”
