Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Team Visma | Lease a Bike): “I came back on the road after my Olympic title, and I said I will try to win the Tour de France in the next three years. So here I am, the first one! It was an amazing season with my team. My teammates worked super hard for me all week long. I just want to say thank you and congrats to them, to my entire team, I love you so much girls, and thank you for everything really! I dreamed of winning in yellow. This morning, I told the sports director that if we can, we'll try to win in yellow, we'll do it. It went really fast all day. I made a mistake early in the race on the first descent. Someone left a gap and I found myself in a break. The day didn't start very well because all my teammates had to ride to catch me. I felt a little bad about that. It taught me a lesson and then I really stayed in front. It wasn't easy because it was quite tactical. I was waiting to see how I would feel on the last climb. I didn't think at all that I could continue and win like that. But I really gave it my all for the last few metres of this Tour de France so I didn't have much time to savour it! I'm happy to be able to win this stage and the general classification. Everyone is preparing for the Tour, but it's true, I think I set the bar really high this year. It's been a lot of sacrifices. I was thinking about it yesterday, and we were talking about it again this morning with my teammates. I told myself that I didn't do all that for nothing. It's a great victory and a great life lesson too. In truth, I didn't think at all that I could win here [this year] so now I don't know what I'm going to be able to do! I just want to enjoy this moment because it might only happen once in my life. "
