Tour de France: Stage 9 finish line quotes

John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) - stage winner

Pure happiness. Really - I was chasing the victory so long. It's really hard to describe.

It was a really hard fight all day. It is also a victory of the team. We really had a plan to stay out of trouble all the time, and it worked out really well. It was unbelievable.

This is a very big victory - since a long time... I have been through a lot of things – it was such a hard time. I'm so happy to dedicate this victory to one of my best friends - he passed away last winter. This was really something for him.

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Everybody said I'm done, after this accident I will never come back. I said no, I'm not done. I have to make at least one really big victory for this guy, his name is Jörg. He was my second father. It was a horrible accident, and it is a huge loss without him. I'm so happy to get this victory now for him.

There's no way to make it more dramatic, more nice, more fantastic. I'm totally overwhelmed.

Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) race leader

I wanted to do as good as possible, and winning in yellow would be something really special. That was in my head, the closer we came to the finish I started believing it.

Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo)

Yves Lampaert (Quick-Step Floors) - third on stage 9

Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb)

Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates)

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