‘I suffered to the line and as a reward we get a Tour stage’published at 16:05 British Summer Time
16:05 BST
Image source, EPA
Stage winner Kaden Groves said: “There are so many emptions to win here. The team, we came here with so many different plans with Jasper [Philipsen] and Mathieu [van der Poel].
“In the end, I get my own opportunities and they haven’t gone the right way. But today I had super legs. I just suffered to the line and as a reward we get a Tour stage.
“The team gave me a free role in the last few days. We weren’t sure if I should go for it today or wait until tomorrow. But when the rain falls, I always have a super feeling normally, in the cold weather. It’s my first time winning solo – and it’s in a Tour stage. Pretty incredible.
“There’s so much pressure at the Tour. Having won in the Vuelta and the Giro, I always get asked whether I’m good enough to win in the Tour – and now I’ve shown them.
“I tried to play my cards right and get into an early move. But the uphill start made that incredibly difficult. When I made the decision, I knew that [Matteo] Jorgenson and [Tim] Wellens would watch each other, so I tried to distance myself form them.
“Then after the crash, [Frank] van den Broek goes full, so I closed that. Then him and Jake Stewart watched each other and I had a gap with 16km to go, so I rode full until the final 200m. I’m going to celebrate with my team tonight and I’ll enjoy the Champs-Elysees tomorrow.”