"On Wednesday, I experienced a complicated start to the Tour of Valencia because of stomach problems. It's a shame that I wasn't able to race for a good result on the first two days, but I'm pleased that I persevered and recovered fairly quickly. Today, I crossed the summit of the Puerto de Albatera in the second group with Rein Taaramäe. We worked well together, first to bridge to the first group and then to prepare for the sprint for second place. I'm very happy that I managed to grab this opportunity to achieve my first podium in the jersey of Intermarché-Wanty." "My other role in this race and for the rest of the season is in Arne Marit's sprint train. Friday's stage was our first test in competition and opportunity to put into practice what we'd been exercising during the training camps. Tim Rex did a fantastic job to control the breakaway of seven riders. In the final, we managed to launch Arne by bringing the sprint train up to speed, with second place as a result. We were well positioned at all key points we determined and stayed ahead of the danger zone. We can be satisfied with this first race, we're going to develop our automatisms and personally, I want to improve in this role with the advice of Boy van Poppel".
"We went into the sprint on stage three with realistic expectations. On the one hand, I didn't start the Tour of Valencia in the best circumstances because I was ill for several days during the January training camp, and I had to make up for that by extending the intense training block last week. It was also the first sprint with my new lead out Boy van Poppel. Our goal was to get the sprint train on the right track, and it worked. Finishing second behind Jonathan Milan is a good result which brings confidence and on which we can build for the next few races."
