I am really proud of this win, because it was not the classic Marcel Kittel-finale, but instead it had a short climb just before the finish, which really hurt. And despite the crash of my lead-up man Fabio Sabatini, we stayed calm in the finale. In the end I hung on to Andre Greipel and then sprinted past him.

Unfortunately Yves Lampaert crashed today too and Tom Boonen had to fight his way back twice after punctures, and in the finale was also involved in Sabatini’s crash and had to wait for a replacement bike. But in the end, we won, we have the yellow jersey and as a team we were very strong. We showed initiative, rode a lot at the front and wanted this win. It is great that I could bring the momentum from Dubai to Portugal. But I doubt it will be enough to defend the yellow tomorrow – a mountaintop finish awaits us ;-)

Photos: roth-foto.de