"I tried to go with Remco but that maybe pushed me a bit into the red" - Max Poole narrowly misses out on stage 18 podium

With the goal of getting it into the break to play for the stage win, Max Poole made the move for Team dsm-firmenich, where he rode brilliantly over the challenging terrain to take fourth place at the end of the day.

"It was a fast start and we wanted to get in the break today as a team so we all tried. I managed to get into a big group and that was that. I tried to go with Remco when he went on the climb, which was a positive and nice to try and hang with him, but that maybe pushed me a bit into the red," Poole said after the finish.

"The strongest rider on the day won. I gave it everything in the end but just had nothing in the last kilometres. I tried to push as hard as I could to the line. It was a bit disappointing to get rolled for the podium in the finale but I gave it my everything so can’t have too many regrets."

"I had a tricky first week and a bit to be honest, but this week I’m feeling better so far, so I think that’s a positive. We also expected that as a team coming in as I normally get better as a race goes on, so it’s nice to be able to race in the final week. Hopefully we can try again in the days left."