He (Alaphilippe) always does this (attacking early) and it’s the best way for him to win the race, so his attack wasn’t unexpected that’s for sure.

It was a tense day, and I went down in the first crash. It was a stupid sort of crash, one of those ones where it was starting to get nervous in the peloton and getting fast towards the finish and someone touches the wheel and I think 80 guys went down.

Tomorrow I think the final climb is actually harder, but better for me. We can only take confidence from today’s performance.”

After gathering himself and collecting the maillot jaune, Van der Poel spoke about his grandfather. "Imagine if he was here how proud he would have been. Unfortunately, he isn't here anymore to see." Read more: Gamble pays off for emotional Mathieu van der Poel with historic win and yellow jersey — cyclingnews

“After Caleb Ewan was forced to abandon the race, we lost the fastest sprinter in our team. It was rather quiet at the dinner table last night because – with so many sprint opportunities – most of our team was built around Caleb. That is why we had to change tactics and race offensively”, says Brent Van Moer.

Peter Sagan post-race: "My crash yesterday was hard and I still had knee pain today but it was gradually getting better in the final 35km. The team did a fantastic job in keeping me in position in the tricky part, especially Nils and Daniel. The last 5km were again hectic because Van Moer was still in front. I found myself a bit out of position and didn't have enough time to recover positions in the last kilometre, so I started my sprint from further back. However, it was a good effort, I feel optimistic about the upcoming days and I will, obviously, keep fighting."

In the end, I heard Pogacar was coming back, and at the top, I heard it was just over a minute, and If I can make it to the top of the last climb with that advantage, it should be okay, and it was.”

The race proved to be very tough from the start, with cyclists attacking from all sides, but I was fine and I was able to benefit from the rainy conditions that I like: so I decided that I would attack and so, when there were still three climbs left, I asked the team to work at the front to set up my attack.”

Today’s result makes me happy, even more when I think back to the work my team did in yesterday’s stage.

Now we are in the yellow and day after day we will show that we are ready to defend the leadership, because we are a very strong team.”

Julian Alaphilippe, Kasper Asgreen, Davide Ballerini, Mattia Cattaneo and Michael Mørkøv devoted all their energies to keeping the Manx Missile at the front in Valence, delivering a phenomenal lead-out and dropping him off just 100 meters from the line. Another top sprint netted an electrifying victory, as Cavendish howled his way over the line with his arms raised high and a large smile on his face.

Patrick KONRAD (AUT/BORA-HANSGROHE) post-race: "It was a really, really long and hard fight today for the break to form. I would say that 80% of the bunch wanted to be in there and that's why it took so long to finally go away. After seeing that the GC riders seemed to be happy the race started to get controlled by UAE, I saw it was my opportunity and had to take it, so I went full gas on the KOM and got in the break. With Guillaume Martin in the day's breakaway, it was clear I wasn't going to pull in that group. He was 9 minutes back in the GC and I didn't want to bring him earlier to the finish. I was sitting at the back of the break when Mollema attacked. I don't know why nobody made the effort to follow him, I tried once but there was no rhythm any longer in the break. I can't say I'm unhappy but I would certainly be happier if I were sprinting for victory. Mollema made a smart move, the road was twisting and we couldn't see him. The climbs suited him today and he was strong. When he had a 30-second lead nobody wanted to chase him and it wasn't up to me to do it."

As for Saturday’s time trial, I can say that time trials are a discipline in which I have always done quite well in, but it is also true that I can have a bad day, but I still have a good advantage in the standings, I am confident.”

I am so happy, not just for me but the team. We had a hard couple of days, but it just brought us closer together and to keep fighting. I’m super proud of this win, this team and what we’ve achieved at this race.”

It is not possible to compare the success in the last edition to what I am experiencing now: they are both different.

It was very nice to share this experience with the team, friends and family, the fans and having the chance to see our sporting director Allan Peiper before the start: we haven’t met since January, and he has been important in preparing for this Tour de France, so it was exciting to see him in good spirits and in good shape ”