"I would have liked an easier finish" - Simon Yates jokes about final wall of queen stage 17

Simon Yates came just short of victory in the queen stage of the Tour de France. The leader of Jayco-AlUla encountered a very strong Felix Gall. Yates at least moves up three places in the general classification and is now fifth, 12:19 behind leader.

"It was pretty brutal. I would have liked an easier finish. However, it is part of cycling," a tired Yates says afterwards to Eurosport about the steep wall of about two hundred meters to the finish. He was with a large leading group, full of strong climbers. In the last and toughest part of the Col de la Loze, however, he was unable to answer Gall's attack. Yates chose his own pace. "Because of the high altitude I chose my own rhythm. He rode great though, so kudos to him. I couldn't get hold of him anymore."

"I was still hoping for a chance in the descent, but I was cross-eyed from fatigue and couldn't assess it all exactly," continues Yates, who could count on the help of his teammates Lawson Craddock and Chris Harper in the leading group. "We wanted to go for the stage today and all the guys were fantastic. Craddock set the pace in the breakaway and Harper took me in tow in the final. Both were spectacularly good."