Marcel Kittel was having a difficult year and the team wasn’t sure about taking him to the Tour de France. I had a difficult start to the year as well. I broke my collarbone in the Spring so except for Liege Bastogne Liege, I missed the Ardennes Classics which was my first goal of the year.
Eventually, two weeks before the Tour de France, the phone rang. Kittel is the kind of rider you can’t replace, but, I was in – taking his place. It was the very last spot in the lineup. I was taking the spot of our leader who was used to winning 4 – 5 stages in the Tour.
Things didn’t go according to plan at first. We tried to win some stages with the other leaders and go for the green jersey, but it wasn’t working out.
Then came stage 17. It was the day after the rest day when you never know how your body will respond. I’ve had some really bad days in Grand Tours after rest days.
The day before the rest day I was feeling good and placed fourth out of a breakaway.
I knew in the third week that many breakaways make it to the finish and after my fourth place, I just had to try again.
Photo: ASO/G.Demouveaux
I had a really weird feeling. I was very tired but still I could push out good power. It was weird. After a longtime, eventually 20 – 25 of us got away. I looked around and I saw so many good climbers. Pinot, Richie Porte, Kruijswijk, Talansky, they were all there. I had to be smart to beat those guys. There were two climbs at the finish of the stage, the first one being the highest of the Tour. Trying to match climbers like these guys in the break meant I didn’t stand a chance.
Fourth place on the previous stage was already a good result for someone like me, so I had nothing to lose.
With 50km to go, I attacked, solo. I wanted to do something exceptional. I got a gap but never a big one, I think the biggest one was 2:30. On the long climb, Col d Allos, I lost time to all those strong climbers. On top of it I had just under a minute. It’s very easy to lose that on the descent but I did a really good ride and pushed the gap back to 1:30 before the start of the last climb.
The last climb was 6km to the finish. My legs were cramping and I had to go super slow. I immediately lost 30 seconds. The motorbike pulled up next to me and I saw the gap was down to one minute. I thought if I cramp again, that’s it. All over.
Talansky was chasing but I was maintaining the gap. I wasn’t thinking about the victory until the last kilometre. I was in the tunnel and didn’t think about much actually. My body just wanted to stop. I was in so much pain. I tried to stay above 300 watts until the finish. My DS in the car was trying to keep me calm because he was worried I would blow up if I got too excited.
In the last kilometre I didn’t think of much. Normally you need to remember stuff like zipping up your jersey, but I was in so much pain I couldn’t think straight.
I turned around a couple of times to check that the time difference was right and no one was close to me. My DS was saying “don’t look around, there is nothing behind you.”
Photp: ASO/G.Demouveaux
When I crossed the line, I screamed. People asked me what that scream was for. I was also very emotional in the TV interview after that. It’s because I haven’t won so many races in my career so it was a big relief. It was also for the frustrating year I had then coming into the Tour as a last call up and winning.
Winning a stage in the Tour is something I have always dreamt about but winning with 50km solo is special to me. It’s like the legends used to do in the olden days.
So many things have to be perfect for a rider like me to pull something like that off. I’m not the fastest climber or sprinter so everything must go right because I stage like that can’t be planned.
You always have good days on the bike but that was just the perfect day.
