"I am lost for words, really. It’s been a very difficult start of the year. I want to thank everyone, my family, my husband, the team for believing in me after being out the whole spring… It’s my biggest victory ever, I’m so emotional, so happy. A few years ago, I might have gone for the sprint, but I need to realise that I’m not as fast Charlotte Kool or Lorena Wiebes anymore, and I need to find other ways to find success. This morning, when I woke up, I was like: ‘Oh no, another day where I have to work, another day where I have to suffer…’ I was in such a bad mood I needed three cups of coffee before anyone could speak to me. And then my sports director came to tell me about that plan of going in the breakaway… I was thinking: ‘Are you kidding me?’ Now I love him! Obviously the big goal is to win the GC with Annemiek [van Vleuten] and we truly believe she can finish it off. But it’s nice that we can also chase stage wins. I was so emotional when Liane [Lippert] won. It gave me a huge boost."
