Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto): "Yesterday was the stage where we could actually see the pure strength of each rider, because the previous stages I feel like everyone was kind of conservative. We all were looking at each other and looking for the moves and the climbs were not big enough, I would say for bigger attacks. It was all about like 4% or 5% gradient, so there was a lot of just waiting for Col de la Madeleine. Anyway, I'm definitely super happy to finish on the podium. Also knowing that every single edition we finished on the podium is something special and we feel proud of that. I know that I did everything I could to prepare for the battle. The shape was really great but on Col de la Madeleine I think maybe the climb didn't suit me necessarily or like the first part of the climb was really steep, so I felt like it was kind of hard for me to find the rhythm. On today's climbs it was just a lot easier in some ways. I mean [the level this year] is definitely higher, every single rider, this is the growth of women's cycling. If you were to push the same power that you were pushing last year, you would be not even in the top 10 here, so it's a constant progress."
