Tour de France stage 16 reactions: Luis Leon Sanchez, Peter Sagan, Dylan Groenewegen, Julian Alaphilippe, Cees Bol
Jul 24 2019 04:54 am CET
Tour de France
Caleb Ewan celebrated at the end of the 16th stage of the Tour de France while Jakob Fuglsang was forced to retire by a late crash. Luis Leon Sanchez and Cees Bol withdrew from the race after the end and talked about their feelings afterwards, and others like Peter Sagan, Dylan Groenewegen and Julian Alaphilippe shared their thoughts of the stage and the days to come.
Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana)
"I already suffer from my back problems for a week. Examinations on the rest day showed that I would need more rest to recover. Together with the team, I decided to do two more stages to support Jakob Fuglsang. After him crashing out today, it didn’t make sense to me and the team to continue the Tour. I’m sad this race has to end like this, I wish my teammates all the best for the upcoming stages, I hope they’ll fight for a stage win."
Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe)
"It felt like we were racing in an oven today... In this flat stage, it was important to make sure again my opponents didn't gain many points in the intermediate sprint and then in the finish, to try to do my best. We rode very well, my teammates did a very good job but unfortunately, I found myself without a lot of space in the final metres. Still, I was able to take fourth on the line and keep a good lead in the points classification."
Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma)
"The moment I wanted to start the sprint, Ewan accelerated. As a result, I got boxed in. When I had free space to sprint, it was too short to the finish to get past them. That is a pity, especially because there are so few opportunities. We also went to the front a little too early and of course, we’re also missing Wout van Aert. I know that I have the speed, but I should not be surprised by other riders. I would have liked to have won today and I certainly could have done better. Now I will try to survive the Alps and then we will go for it again in Paris."
Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step)
"There isn’t a proper day to recover at the Tour de France, but I felt good on Monday during the rest day. Today was very warm, but it was the same for everybody and all you can do is deal with it. That’s why I made sure of eating during the stage and drinking a lot. I’m happy that I kept the yellow jersey and I get to wear it for at least another day."
Cees Bol (Sunweb)
"Of course it’s with mixed feelings that I leave the race but I think it’s the right thing to do. Upfront we made the plan to take a day by day approach to avoid exceeding the limits. Until the first rest day I coped pretty well and together we fought for some nice results. I took on the Pyrenees with both the rest day and still today’s sprint opportunity for the team in the back of my head. After a talk, we decided that with the tough stages coming up this is the moment to pull out. The Tour was a great experience for me and can’t be compared to anything else in cycling. I hope I will be back for more."
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