Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech): “I’m proud to be a part of this”

August 20 ^th 2023 - 19:02 [GMT + 2]

It definitely was quite a stressful stage, to be honest. The start was very hectic, as there was no breakaway for the first 70 kilometres, but once it went, we played it perfectly. It was a really good day, with fantastic teamwork from all the guys. There were 15 men in that break, and just two or three Israel riders rotating at the front of the bunch to keep the gap below 2’30” all day. It was selfless work, and I’m proud to be a part of this. We knew we didn’t need to bring the gap down, as we were content as long as the gap was around a minute and it was up to the other teams to pull and do the work if they wanted to have a shot at the stage win. As for the final, I just needed to watch those riders who were within ten seconds of me on the GC.

It's the first time I’ve been here to race. To be honest, I didn’t expect conditions as bad as this. Now that it’s all settled down, I guess it makes it all sweeter. I’m really happy to I got my hands in the air yesterday and that I finished it off today.