Tom Jelte-Slagter has once again showed his strength. After yesterday’s chain drop, he took his revenge and finished ahead of reigning World Champion Rui Costa and Carlos Betancur. Jelte-Slagter is now 21st in the GC, 1 minute and 37 seconds after GC leader Carlos Betancur. Here are more reactions from the 7th stage:

Francesco Gavazzi (61st in the GC +20:33) who was a part of the breakaway:

“Today’s tactic was to get in the breakaway until the circuits and then have Vincenzo and Jakob either for the stage and the overall – that we did – Westra went first, then Gasparotto, then me”

“Tomorrow [Yesterday] is a completely different kind of stage – short, fast and very hard – for sure we will see a change in the classification at the finish”

Simon Spilak (10th in the GC +00:39) who finished 19th on the stage of today:

“During the first part of the race I did not feel great, but in the final I was much better. The team was very active in the final laps and we tried to control all important breakaways. But no one could do a successful break and everything was decided by the sprint of the leading group. Today I was close to be involved in a crash, but managed to avoid it. But I had to spend some energy to come back in the leaders. Anyway, everything ended well. Tomorrow will be a very hard stage with a decisive fight for the general classification. I am ready for it,” he said.

Fabrizio Guidi, Sports Director of Tinkoff Saxo whose best rider in the GC is Rafal Majka (32nd +04:49):

“Today, Nicki (Sørensen) was showing promising form and so was Rafal (Majka) before taking on the final stage tomorrow, both being in today’s finale along with Chris (Anker Sørensen).  I guess tomorrow’s stage suits Rafal very well or definately better than today’s bumpy finale and this will be his chance to shine. I expect him to at least be in the top-10 tomorrow.”

Albert Timmer (146th in the GC +1:05:10) who was a part of the breakaway:

“It was good to be in a breakaway again today but it was a shame that Feillu was there as he was too close in the overall. We were never given much space, but I felt good and got a good workout.”

“It has been a great week so far with a stage win and having had the yellow jersey. The moral is great and we will see what we can do tomorrow.”

Team Giant-Shimano coach Christian Guiberteau:

“It was a good 200km in the mountains and the team showed themselves from start to finish. We wanted to be in the break today, incase it was allowed enough of a gap to go to the finish and Albert rode a strong race all day out front."

“He got caught as the race hit the tough finishing circuits and the pace here was too much for John and Reinardt, which left Thierry and Dries in the front peloton of around 60 riders. Dries tested himself again with a late attack but it came back to a sprint once again.”