One for all, all for one – Tour de France Femmes stage 7 debrief

Stage 7 of the Tour de France Femmes took place between Bourg-en-Bresse and Chambéry over nearly 160 kilometres, and many believed that this could be the last opportunity for breakaway riders to seriously compete for stage victories before the two GC stages over the weekend. Given the flat nature of the first half of the stage, one might have thought there would be a fierce battle to get into the breakaway, to the extent that the final group vying for victory might not even be formed until the live broadcast began. 

However, that was not the case; after about 20 kilometres, a group of 17 riders formed who could compete for the stage victory; among them were many so-called satellite riders, who could assist their leaders in the event of an attack affecting the general classification. Almost every team had such a rider up front, with SD Worx sending out world champion Lotte Kopecky to assist Anna van der Breggen, AG Insurance – Soudal providing last year's Queen of the Mountain classification winner, Justine Ghekiere, to this group, and Canyon//SRAM attacking with Chloe Dygert, who, although primarily a sprinter, climbed particularly well yesterday and could have been a genuine contender for the stage victory. 

In addition to Maud Rijnbeek, the French champion Marie Le Net (FDJ-Suez); Maëva Squiban, who won a stage in Ambert a day earlier, and the Dutchwoman Mareille Meijering, who aimed to save Movistar's Tour de France, were considered contenders from this group. The breakaway's advantage gradually increased, hovering for a long time between 2-3 minutes on the verge of the stage victory, but upon reaching and climbing the first mountain, it grew to over 4 minutes at the top of the Côte de Saint-Franc, hinting at the stage victory. At that moment, unexpectedly, a team came close to a historic feat that no one had bet on before the race.

Among the 17-strong group, Eline Jansen, leader of the VolkerWessels team, had the smallest deficit compared to the general classification leader, Kim Le Court, at 5:40 at the start of the day. After the fourth category climb, Côte de Berland, the peloton stopped, allowing the gap to grow above 5 minutes, and Jansen found herself within half a minute of securing the virtual yellow jersey. 

The VolkerWessels team is having a fantastic Tour de France Femmes, as Eline Jansen has already achieved 4th, 7th, and 8th places in the first six days, while Margot Vanpachtenbeke secured a 6th place in the 6th stage. Four top-10 finishes have already indicated an incredible race, and this was further strengthened when Jansen’s teammate in the break, Maud Rijnbeek, attempted to surprise everyone with a 30-kilometre solo during a false flat section of the stage, when the breakaway visibly slowed down to prepare for the final and most challenging climb of the day, the Col du Granier. 

The tactic was straightforward; the team tried to use her as a launchpad for Jansen. Unfortunately, this did not work out, as Jansen was unable to deliver an effort on the final climb that would have been enough for the top positions; however, Rijnbeek was strong enough, as she managed to hold on until halfway up the mountain, but ultimately her efforts were not crowned with success either. At the same time, this is the kind of brave racing that makes the team recognisable and lovable – it is not unlikely that we will see more attacks from them in the last two days.

During the preliminary ascent of Col du Granier, the question was not what would happen going up, but rather on the final 15-kilometre descent to Chambéry. At high speeds, significant differences could easily emerge between excellent and less skilled descenders on relatively technical, poor-quality roads. Additionally, the Granier, with an average gradient of 5.7%, could pose a challenge due to its length on the ascent. Few teams tried to take advantage of this, but Pauliena Rooijakkers and her Fenix-Deceuninck team were among them. At a third of the way up the mountain, they took the lead with three riders, Yara Kastelijn and Puck Pieterse set a pace that truly thinned out the peloton, dropping many riders, including Kim Le Court, who was in the yellow jersey before the stage. 

Throughout the race, the question regarding Le Court was how she would cope with the longer climbs that require purer climbing skills, and when Kim would have to relinquish the leadership role within the team to Sarah Gigante. The plan seemed to fall apart at the first obstacle. It should be added that after the stage, Le Court mentioned that she had been struggling with a minor illness for days, which somewhat hindered her (if this is true, then it is an astonishing achievement that she has gained 34 seconds of bonus time so far, along with a stage victory), but there was 5-7 minutes during the stage where she found herself in a complicated situation; however, she managed to salvage the situation beautifully by the end of the day. 

Another question is why Rooijakkers did not want, could not, or dared not go alone, and why other general classification contenders had no interest in pushing the pace to drop Le Court. The reason for this might have been the descent itself, which posed additional challenges.

At the beginning of the descent, AG Insurance found themselves in a bilateral squeeze – although Sarah Gigante was at the front of the GC group throughout the climb, her descending skills are among the weaker half of the field, and there was a fear that she would lose a lot on this 15-kilometre stretch. Kim Le Court was 30 seconds behind at the top of Granier, and she needed to pull herself back into contention from there. This is where the role of the satellite riders came into play, specifically Justine Ghekiere, who waited for Gigante at the top of the mountain, trying to assist her as much as possible during the descent. 

What we saw from Justine was the dictionary definition of a domestique. Very rarely do we see a domestique shouting instructions from behind to their co-captain about the descent at a speed of 70 km/h, telling her where to go, what to pay attention to, and how best to overcome her fears and limitations on the descents, and they succeeded in making it possible. Indeed, the pace was not high; neither Demi Vollering nor Cédrine Kerbaol pushed themselves hard until the last 2 kilometres began, but what the Gigante-Ghekiere duo did was brilliant; they limited their losses as much as possible, and the 11 seconds that the Australian climber ultimately conceded from the GC contenders was much less than what seemed realistic before the day. Kim Le Court completed AG Insurance's satisfactory end to the stage – the Mauritian rider bravely made up for her half-minute deficit with a strong descent, arriving with the contenders and keeping her yellow jersey before tomorrow's most critical day.

Where were you on July 18, 1991? This question is vital because Charly Mottet, then racing for the French R. M. O. team and a former three-time Critérium du Dauphine winner, became the last French rider to win his second consecutive stage victory at the Tour de France, on a gruelling 246-kilometre day in the Pyrenees. 

On another mountain range in France, 34 years later, UAE Team ADQ rider Maëva Squiban broke this unfortunate streak. According to Squiban, today she attacked at the beginning of the stage from an idea that came from an internal joke within the team, but if the legs are good, even such an attack can be successful, as was perfectly demonstrated in the case of the Breton rider. The way she attacked today indicates great strength and maturity, which could pave the way for a serious Grand Tour result in the coming years. 

The first attack was a powerful, seated launch that reduced the group size to two, and only Mareille Meijering was able to react to it. However, in the second, one vs one type of attack, Maëva relied on her explosiveness in a situation where a treadmill scenario could have been developed that could have cost the stage – she chose the best spot for this, as she attacked in front of an incredible crowd, fulfilling the will of the people on that section of the climb. Within 3 kilometres, she created an advantage that proved more than sufficient for the descent. 

A new star was born in the past 36 hours in France, and her long solo victories could truly make her a fan favourite worldwide in women's cycling, where breakaway victories are rarely seen.