"I am very happy with this victory and with my performance today", Roglic said. "It’s always special and beautiful when you win. It was a very good day for us. The time trial here is always tough and I like to race in the Basque Country. The course was a nice challenge with a mix of climbs, descents, fast turns and a steep wall at the end. It is a great start for us, but we will have a tough week ahead of us. The field here is really strong and the next stages are going to be very tough."

There are still three days of racing, all quite hard. I’m pretty optimistic because the condition is good and the team is racing very well together”

“It was our goal to be in the breakaway and once we got there, we worked very hard to remain as much as possible at the front. With our gap standing at one minute on the climb, it looked like a hard task, but we gave everything there and continued pushing. In the closing kilometers, I jumped on the short hill and waited for Josef at the top so we could go together to the line. He was incredible today and I want to point out that this isn’t my victory, but a win shared by the two of us, because I wouldn’t have made it without him. Getting to the line together with a teammate and celebrating a victory is one of the most beautiful things in cycling”, said an emotional Mikkel after Deceuninck – Quick-Step’s 15th win of the season.

“A memorable day for us. When we went into the break, our goal was to make the most out of this opportunity and I’m happy with how things panned out in the end. We believed in ourselves, kept the pace high in the finale and delivered a great team effort. That’s why we can be proud of what we achieved, as it’s a day we’ll always remember”, added Josef after contributing to the team’s magnificent display in the Basque Country.

“We hoped that the stage would go a little differently for us. We tried to control the race initially, but when Astana attacked they managed to build up a gap quickly, forcing Marc Hirschi and me to lead the chase, even though it was a little too late.We then arrived at the most challenging point of the stage, and Brandon got detached. It was then up to me to fight for the podium and I had to push really deep for 40km. It was one of the most demanding stages both mentally and physically that I have ever done in my career”.

Sports director Grischa Niermann saw the tactic that had been outlined turn into a success. "A great day for us as a team. It turned out exactly as we had planned. We wanted to race from the start and put the competition under pressure. Today we did a great job as a team. We take all the jerseys home in one of the toughest races of the year. The compliments not only go to Primoz and Jonas, but to the entire team. Not everyone understood our tactic in the past week, but in hindsight it appears that it was the right one. Today we have proven once again that we have more to offer than just controlling the race. We end this week with an excellent feeling."