Giro d'Italia: Stage 18 finish line quotes

Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) - stage winner

"It's been a rough couple of years in Grand Tours as far as the general classification goes, but I did my best to keep the morale high. It's my first Grand Tour victory, so it's an incredible feeling, especially in an area like this, that I'm so familiar with – I've done a lot of camps here, so I knew every inch of the roads. It feels incredible to get this victory.

"(How confident on beating Landa?) Not at all. He's a strong sprinter and a great climber. I tried to play it as best I could, but I didn't know I was going to win until I crossed the line."

Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) - race leader

"They are only focusing on me and trying to make me lose instead of trying to win. In the last moments, they lost a lot of time to the other competitors. I really hope that riding like this they will lose their podium spot in Milan, that would be really nice, and I would be really happy.

"It would be a dream scenario if the other competitors didn't get any closer, but now Thibaut Pinot almost took a minute on me just because Nibali and Quintana made a pact, clearly. It's their right, but it would be nice if they lose their podium spot for that behaviour.

"I was feeling strong so I decided to show them that I'm also awake."

Max Sciandri (BMC directeur sportif)

"It's amazing. An amazing day. It was a tough comeback. He had some tough moments, after Blockhaus and the time trial, but it's believing, having a great group of guys around him, like Manuel Quinziato and Fran Ventoso, keeping that morale high, and just believing in the guy. We know he has it.

"It's an area he really knows, climbs he really knows. We spoke about today and he said 'I know every metre'.

"When it comes to the end you hope for the best. I went to him and explained the finish, made sure he knew it was a fast run to last 500 metres."

Mikel Landa (Team Sky) - mountains classification leader

"Obviously I wanted to win again, but I did second. It was really a stage for the king of the mountains, and I'm happy now because it was nice work, and we have closed this jersey.

"I thought I could take enough speed to be first, but when the cobbles finished he passed me and I couldn't do anything."

Adam Yates (Orica-Scott) - new best young rider

"(Did you expect to be able to be here after your crash on stage 9?) Stage 9 feels like a really long time ago. I've been trying to chip away at the GC, not just for the white jersey but to move up on the GC in general. I don't feel like I've been climbing the best, I'm not up there with the best guys. But I will keep chipping away day by day. I may have the jersey, but it's not over yet. We still have two big mountain stages to come and the TT, so it's not over yet.

"Everyone knows (Jungels) is a good time trialist, and he's hung onto the jersey for so long now, so he's shown he's a good climber as well. We'll have to try again tomorrow."

Nairo Quintana (Movistar) - second overall

"We tried, one way or another, playing the cards we had in the team. We moved, we tried. But it wasn’t possible. The leader defended himself very well and we finished on the same time.

"My data is good. The truth is that the level is high, everyone’s in good shape. There are two more days left for us to keep trying."

Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) - fourth overall

"It was a good day, I felt strong. For sure it gives me confidence to do that on a stage like this, with a very strong rhythm and tough climbs in a short stage."

 

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