As the sun set over the Mediterranean, Richard Carapaz smiled from the top step of the final podium and pulled on the polka dot jersey that he won in the Tour’s best climber classification.

Richie’s King of the Mountains win is a team victory. He could not have won it without the efforts that every one of his teammates put in to make sure he made the right breaks to go for points at the summits of the hardest mountains on the course. The same holds true for his stage 17 win, his day in the yellow jersey, and his super-combativity award.

From the grand depart in Florence three weeks ago, across the Pyrenees and Alps, to today’s final time trial up and over La Turbie, we attacked all 21 stages of this Tour de France with determination and grit, drawing on the indomitable creative spirit that inspires us to make our mark on France's great race, as well as the cheers of the crowds.

Tour rookies Ben Healy, Marijn van den Berg, and Sean Quinn rode their hearts out and can now call themselves Tour de France racers. Congratulations. We know you will be back for more.

Veterans Rui Costa, Neilson Powless, and Stefan Bissegger were consummate teammates, leading out sprints, closing gaps when the race split in crosswinds, and making the breaks in the mountains. There was no job that they were not willing to do. Thank you, Rui, Neilson, and Stefan.

Alberto Bettiol had to leave the race early. We’ll miss him tonight, but will never forget the contributions he made during the first half of the race and the joy he shared with us when we were racing on his home roads during the first three stages in Italy.

Richie showed what we have always known: he is one of the most exciting bike racers in the peloton, with the talent to go toe-to-toe against the best in the world on the hardest terrain in the hardest race in the world. Congratulations, Richie. Congratulations team!

You rode one heck of a great Tour de France!

It’s been a really hard Tour and today my legs are sore. I am very tired, but happy. It was a really nice Tour in the end. When I got to Italy, where we started, I had some doubts because of the crash. I wasn’t in good health. I hadn’t found my form. But over the duration of the Tour, I’ve gotten better and better, and for me that’s been super good. By the second week, I’d found my legs and then I knew what I could do. That’s what’s been the best for me, finishing the week the way we have, winning the stage, being the King of the Mountains champions, and in the way that we’ve shown we can do it.

For me, this is the best team to work with, because we were all very clear on what our goals were and that helped us a lot with our objectives. That is what made the difference. We’re a team that works as a team. Personal results are for the whole team – the riders, the staff – everyone has worked super well this whole Tour.

My favorite memory is my stage win. That was the best feeling, because it was a very, very hard day and it was one of those days I had marked down that I wanted to go for it. That it happened was huge.

This Tour has been an experience. It’s been familiar in a way, but also different. The past three weeks were very fast and hard. The pace during the mountain stages was so fast. And then the stages that maybe one would think would be calmer were raced at an incredible speed too. It has been a very exhausting Tour. We had a good time and I think the team did a great job. From the first week to the last, we were very active.

Marijn and Ben and Sean, who were doing their first Tour de France, did a great Tour de France. They took it all in and learned how to manage the efforts. Richard showed that he really is a special rider. He achieved great things for us and we are very happy about that.

It was a very nice group, a very united group. Everyone knew what they had to do. We are professionals. No one had to insist, you do this, you do that. Everyone did their job. And I think that because of that, we have achieved very interesting things for the team, for all the sponsors, for the staff. It is also important to remember all these people, all of the staff beyond us eight riders. It was important for us to give joy to the whole team, to the sponsors, to the staff, who are behind the scenes doing a great job. We are proud to get all these results here in the Tour. Thanks to them.

My favorite memory was when Richard got the yellow jersey. That was a very special moment for me here in the Tour, that day when Richard became the leader of the Tour de France.

On a personal level, I'm really, really proud of where I got to and how I raced this race. Unfortunately, I got a bit sick in the last week, but sometimes you can't help that. I was still able to help the team where I could. Overall, it was a really good race.

We came into it with Richie not really knowing where he was at, which made for a last minute switch up in plans, but everyone really just bought into the plan. Every day, we had a different leader. On some levels, that actually helps a lot, because everyone knew they were going to get their chance. If you did your job for this guy, this guy's going to pay you back. That really, really helped this team bond.

It was a different sort of way to race and that really helped us. Everyone was fully committed every day. By the end, Richie was flying. We all came together and that helped him get his stage win. My favorite memory is coming across the line and hearing that Richie won. I’d had a pretty tough day that day and was really slogging it home. We had lost the radio connection over the mountain so we didn't know if he’d won or not. And then people started chanting to me and Neilson. We were like, “Richie, has he done it or has he not?” When we finally found out, it was just this massive relief, because we'd been fighting for this for almost three weeks at that point. That he could finally pull it off was just an amazing moment for the whole team.

I feel pretty tired. I suffered a lot over the past week and am happy that it is over now, but we had a good race.

We started out really well. We took the races in our hands and made them hard and tried to put our stamp on the races, which worked out really well. At the end, we have a big reward with Richie having a stage win, being in yellow, and also now winning the polka dots jersey.

We had really good team spirit. Everybody was happy. I was hoping for a bit more in the TT myself, but it was a bit too hard, and I didn't have my best day. But we had a good time all together. When we decided we'd do something, we really did it, which was super nice and also made it a lot easier for us. Richie winning was my favorite memory.

Talking to all the directors and staff and riders who have done the Tour in the past, we had a really good Tour. We set the goal of winning stages. That was the main item to check off the list, which we did.

And then, this goal with the polka dots came late, but we still got it done. We're all just really proud of the way we raced every day. We took every opportunity we could. My role was mostly to work for the team, but I'm super proud of the way I was able to do that and help Richard.

Having a good group around the dinner table is so important. Obviously, you still want guys who are fast enough, but if you gel well off the bike you're going to gel together in the race. It was just a fun group around the dinner table and on the bus every day. When you have that connection off the bike, it makes racing together so much easier and you actually want to help each other in the race.

The last night before the time trial is my favorite memory, just sitting around, hanging out with everyone, enjoying it while we're all still together. It feels like the group has just come closer and closer. There’s a ton of staff here. At the beginning, there were almost too many people to really feel comfortable around everyone, but last night the whole group was there and just enjoying it. The Tour has gone well so it was just a happy moment together.

I finished this Tour really strong. The last two days were exciting, going for the mountain points with Richie. I felt like I was able to play a pretty important role for him.

I'm really, really happy with the way I finished the Tour and the way that the team finished the Tour. I still wish I could have won a stage myself, but it was a pretty incredible Tour for the team, so I'm happy.

The energy in the team was nice. It was always really relaxing around the table, and in the race we always had a super clear goal that everyone was committed to every day. We were in the race every day, sprinting with Marijn or going for breakaway with pretty much everyone. Every day was pretty exciting. My favorite memory was having Richie in yellow. That was pretty awesome.

I’m tired but happy I made it. With Richie, we had a great leader in the team at the end and we really had something to work for. That inspired me to go a little bit deeper. I couldn't do much, but wanted to do every bit I could.

This Tour was really intense. It was a nice experience for me to get up there in the sprints and learn from that as well. That experience will be really important when I come back here. I have to improve some things, but that also gives a lot of motivation to train again and come back a little bit stronger and be able to fight for victory, because that's what I'm cycling for.

We had a super nice team here. Everybody wanted to work for each other. That was really, really special and made these three weeks together a lot easier.

I really enjoyed these three weeks actually. My birthday was really special. We had it with the whole team. But my favorite racing memory was doing the lead out with Richie on my wheel. That was a special experience.