“I am very happy to finish on the podium”, Roglic explained. “I came here to win, but after all the physical problems and difficulties I faced in the past few days, I am proud that I was able to achieve this. I gave myself 110 percent. To finish this stage race in this arena here in Verona with so much support from so many Slovenian supporters feels like a victory to me. I also want to thank the team for the support of the past weeks. This would not have been possible without our team.”

Sports director Addy Engels was happy with his leader’s podium place. “It was super exciting today. He had to dig really deep, it was far from easy for him. He rode a fantastic time trial in terms of dedication and fighting spirit, but he has done better TT’s in the past. You can never tell in advance how it will go. The shape of the day, a mistake and everything can go wrong. This third place is very satisfactory for everyone in the team.”

Manager Richard Plugge was proud of his team. It is the first overall podium in a Grand Tour since Plugge became the team’s manager at the end of 2012. “This podium means that we are growing as a team. We want to reach higher step by step and continue to develop. This third place is nice, but it also shows that we are not there yet and that there are still steps to take. As an example, across the board we are too small as a team. After losing Gesink before the Giro and later also De Plus, our young, talented riders had to take over their tasks. Logically, they still lacked experience. But I am very proud of the team. We have achieved this together and with each other.”