Tour de France stage 15 reactions: Julian Alaphilippe, Mikel Landa, Richie Porte, Lennard Kämna
Jul 22 2019 06:04 am CET
Tour de France
Simon Yates took his second victory in the 2019 Tour de France on a day in which the General Classification riders had real battles against each other and with themselves. Julian Alaphilippe -holder of the Yellow Jersey, Mikel Landa -most combative rider of the day, Richie Porte and Lennard Kämna talked about the stage before the second rest day.
Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step)
"I want to thank the team because they did a great job to control the race and protect me. It was a very hard day, and I expected that, and my goal was to remain in the lead. I am happy I could do that and although I’m aware that the third week will be a very tough one, I just want to enjoy every moment of this great Tour. Until then, we have a rest day, and I look forward to it, to training with my teammates and seeing my family."
Mikel Landa (Movistar)
"Yesterday I remained without legs in the final part of the stage. Today I felt good so I tried something different, from further out. I knew it would be very to come across to Simon Yates for the stage win. He’s a very skilful cyclist. Nevertheless, I’m happy with my situation. I lost a lot of time the day I crashed so it’s a too big call to talk about winning the Tour de France but I believe it’s possible to make the podium and I’d like to win a stage as well."
Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo)
"I had a better day today; it was a nice result. I am happy to just keep chipping away at it. Guys are cracking - yesterday was so hard, and same as today. I couldn’t quite hold on to those last guys or G (Geraint Thomas), who are most likely going to be the guys fighting for the win. Certainly, yesterday I popped, but I didn’t totally go into the red."
Lennard Kämna (Sunweb)
"The whole breakaway was filled with a lot of good riders so I’m really proud that I could come second out of that group. At first, I wasn’t feeling too good, so in the opening 25 kilometres, I didn’t jump once. When I felt that the group could go, I went to the front of the peloton and started to cover moves. In the end, it was just on power on the climb and I made it into the break before I could recover a little bit. At the moment it looks like you are fighting and suffering but in the end, when you feel all of the spectators and you know that you’re riding at the front of the Tour de France, it starts to be fun; that’s why we are all racing."
Tour de France stage 15 reactions: Julian Alaphilippe, Mikel Landa, Richie Porte, Lennard Kämna https://t.co/bxVniroEJz#TDF2019
— CyclingPub (@CyclingPub) July 21, 2019
?ASO/Pauline BALLET pic.twitter.com/Yu8Zc2nil7
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