Danny van Poppel: "Normally I’m behind riders like Degenkolb"

August 12 ^th 2016 - 19:22

"It was really tight. I wasn't sure if I had won but I'm really happy. My team did a great job. I knew it was a hard sprint. It was also a long day on the bike. Normally I'm behind riders like Degenkolb, Kristoff and Démare, but I was first today and it makes me very happy to beat someone like John Degenkolb. I was on his wheel. I came over him. I felt that I was a little bit faster. My feeling was that I won but I didn't want to celebrate without being sure that I was the winner. It's a big honor to lead the Arctic Race of Norway but tomorrow, we have other riders to go for the overall ranking. It's an uphill finish, it's not my specialty. I'll try to help the team because they helped me today and I hope for another sprint on Sunday.”