Chris Froome said that he is in a better situation than he expected, after finishing safely on stage fifteen of the 103rd Tour De France.
Froome told ASO: “This morning I expected more attacks to come from my rivals. During the race I expected them from Movistar in particular because they had two strong guys in the breakaway. Valverde had a go when Aru made his move. Obviously Bardet tried his move at the top but I had the feeling that no one had the legs to make a difference.
" Earlier up the hill I wanted to see the state of play. I accelerated to know who would follow me and I saw Nairo Quintana on my wheel quite quickly. I wanted to know who'd be likely to move near the top of the Grand Colombier.
"Coming to the Tour, I said I was in a very privileged position because it was the strongest team that Team Sky ever sent to the Tour. With me, I have riders who would be leaders in other teams. Wout Poels is the Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner. I'm so grateful and fortunate to have team-mates like him. It's demoralizing for my adversaries to see him and my other team-mates neutralizing their attacks so they seem happy to stay in my wheel. Maybe they think more to the Alps.
"For now I'm happy. I'm in a better situation than I expected at this point.”
Rafal Majka said that he will try and defend the King Of The Mountains jersey and said: “I thought I could win the stage today but at the end I didn't. I would have won if the finish was at the top [of Grand Colombier]. Four days ago I crashed and my arm is still in pain so I didn't want to take too many risks downhill. I wanted to win my fourth Tour de France stage but it's not finished. I might have more opportunities in the Alps. I'm happy to be back in the polka dot jersey. I'll try to keep it.”