Giro d'Italia: Quotes from the finish line of stage 6

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Stage 6 of the Giro d’Italia should have been a simple and straightforward day for the peloton and the GC favourites. For much of the day it was, but a crash that was seemingly caused by a fans’ camera lens saw race leader Alberto Contador hit the deck. Contador kept the pink jersey but was unable to put it on during the podium ceremony, sparking worry among his fans.

In the meantime, André Greipel stormed to his third Giro d’Italia victory – the first of his 2015 campaign. Lotto-Soudal did almost all of the pace setting throughout the day, determined to deliver Greipel to that win.

We’ve compiled a collection of reaction to today’s hectic finale.

Stefano Feltrin (Tinkoff-Saxo general manager)

"We’re still having a look at it, of course we’re still having some x-rays and analysis on it to see exactly what the problem is."

Jacinto Vidarte (Alberto Contador’s press officer)

"Alberto is almost good, he had a very heavy fall towards the end. He’s hurt himself on the knee and he’s got a bad shoulder as you can see but I think he should be ok. Alright he’s hurt his knee but I think that he should be ok to continue.

"Of course he’s only just fallen, we’ve got to do all the medical exams in the next few hope that he’s ok"

Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal)

"It was really like we planned in the last part, we made a really long pull, and it kept us in the front and with 1.1km to go Adam Hansen just went for it and then Greg Henderson was going really for a long way. When I looked up it was just 600 metres to go, normally it’s a bit too early for him but he kept it up. This time I didn’t go too early and I’m really thankful for my teammates, I’m really happy with this victory.

"We are working so long together and we are friends so I think this makes it easier to fight for each other and the victory and without the team a victory like this doesn’t happen."

Greg Henderson (Lotto-Soudal)

"We had a big meeting last night. Adam, myself and André sat down and had a chat and then we found out it was a tailwind sprint. We’re missing Marcel Sieberg but I said we can do this, Adam can get me to 500 metres to go with the tailwind and then it’s over and done with really quick. It was so fast and I knew as soon as Andre stepped off my wheel, he came about 3 or 4 k faster than I was and I thought no one can pass that."

"For me it was a nice day, I enjoyed it in the blue jersey. It wasn’t stressful for me today because I stayed in the peloton. It was a day for the sprinters and it wasn’t too fast but you never know with the wind and everything.

"It will be tough to hold it [the mountains jersey] because I think the other riders are looking for the blue jersey. For sure, if I want to keep it then I need to do another day in the breakaway or more."