AG2R team manager Vincent Lavenu, impressed by the victory of his young rider Alexis Vuillermoz in stage 8, said a champion was born.

“We have a great champion with us. It's a great pleasure to work with a kid like that. We knew it was a possibility but you can't necessarily dream with the great riders we have here,” he told Letour.fr.

“He really impressed everyone and made it into the top flight. Now we can relax a bit. The kid made it into history. We're collecting the fruits of a lot of hard work. We don't know what his limits are, he has exceptional resources. He finished 11th in the last Giro for his second year as a professional. He had a few regrets after Huy because he did not dare. This time he dared and it worked.”

His leader Jean-Christophe Peraud, second in the last Tour de France, also confessed he had been impressed: “Alexis is enormous, simply enormous. He's one of the best punchers in the world. It was going full gas until the big guys decided to sit back and let him go. He's an unbelievable puncher. I'm impressed.”