A very successful Tour

What is your overall assessment of this Tour? From my point of view, I can´t be disappointed. It was a very successful Tour. If anybody had told me before the start that I´d make the podium I wouldn’t have believed him. I know that many people hoped that I´d get a good result because they were confident that I´d stay with Alberto until the very last moment but I must admit it wasn’t a child´s play. And what about the team´s perspective? Alberto, unfortunately, lost the podium spot in the Saturday´s stage, which is a pity. We feel sorry about it but we can at least find comfort in winning the team classification. We have two riders in top five and there are simply years when somebody is stronger. The crunch time occurred on the last climb of the Saturday´s stage… The Movistar and Katusha were determined to drop Alberto and at that moment it was simply the legs that counted. Quintana and Rodriguez were better. There is nothing we can do, Alberto is only a human being who cannot keep on winning all the time. Did you pay the price for the three-week hard work on the last climb? I was trying to support Alberto until the very last moment and when he accelerated 1500m from the finish I mentally cracked a little bit. I knew that my fifth place wasn’t at risk because Mollema was riding behind me. But it is obvious that I was also worn-out after three weeks of racing. Speculation is rife that if your position in the team had been different you could have done much better… There are no ifs, ands or buts. Our team tactics was clear and the team made the right choice. Alberto was a fantastic leader and we all tried to do our best for him every single day of the Tour.