"It was the first big mountain stage and I'm happy to have got my legs back in good shape, after all the work I've put in to get in shape for the Tour de France. In the first two stages, I wasn't at my best. Being in the breakaway today gave me hope of going all the way. However, the group was large and we found ourselves playing for points in the mountain classification, because we knew that there were some dangerous riders in the general classification and that the peloton wouldn't let us get away. We were surprised by the gap, which meant we could aim for a stage win. It didn't make much difference, though, as I ran out of energy 500 metres from the summit of the Col de Marie Blanque to keep up with Jai Hindley. I then found my rhythm to get to the top, but I'm completely drained. I'm really satisfied with the day. There were three of us from the team up front and Aurélien Paret-Peintre and Clément Berthet did an incredible job. I'm happy to be wearing this polka-dot jersey, even if I know it won't be easy to keep it. Starting tomorrow, there are some 'big' points at stake and it certainly won't be our strategy to go off in the breakaways to defend it."