'I woke up to my own screaming' - Gigante ready to shine despite dislocated shoulder

The Australian climber is currently in the form of her life. After finishing 3rd on GC at the Giro d'Italia Women as well as taking two mountain top finish stage wins, Gigante arrived in Brittany at the start of the Tour de France Femmes as one of the most intriguing riders on the startlist. 

One notable weakness of Gigante is her lack of confidence during technical descents and after stages 6 and 7 featuring important descents in the finale, the Australian has done very well to maintain her solid position within the GC, currently sitting 8th, 1:14 behind her team mate Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal). 

Gigante relied on the support of her teammate Justine Ghekiere on the descent of the Col du Granier in the run-in on stage 7 and credited the Belgian champion for saving her GC ambitions with what she described as "an absolutely legendary ride" after the finish.

"The legs are feeling good, the descent was tricky for me, but I completely knew, even looking six months ago, that this finish would be hard, and I was so lucky that Justine [Ghekiere], just like yesterday, really saved my GC, and I can’t thank her enough," Gigante said to Wielerflits after the stage finish.

"She was so strong and selfless, and yeah, such a great ride by her to get in the early breakaway. It meant we didn’t have to control break, but also, she really sacrificed her spot on the stage podium finish to wait for me, and coach me all the way down the descent, cheer me on, yell at me sometimes and close gaps when needed."

It proved to be a day that showed the character and resilience of the AG Insurance-Soudal riders as Kim Le Court successfully defended her yellow jersey. After initially being distanced on the slopes of the Col du Granier, Le Court was able to return to the GC group on the descent, and Gigante praised the ride of her teammate after the finish.

"So good by Kim [Le Court] as well. She had a tough moment near the top of the climb, but she was able to descend like a demon and not lose time and keep yellow, which is incredible and then the other girls before the climb were essential, so an amazing ride by the team," Gigante explained. 

Before the start of stage 7, Gigante also revealed that she had suffered another shoulder dislocation overnight, having picked up the injury a few months earlier.

"Yeah, I just woke up to my own screaming. I dislocated it in May, and I guess you can redislocate it, as I found out today, so that was a bit painful, but hopefully it’s okay," Gigante said.

When asked about how her shoulder was post-finish, Gigante indicated that it's not impacting her ability to race too much, which bodes well for the mountains to come, which is well and truly the Australian climber's playground.

“Better every day, luckily I’m not a swimmer or gymnast, I don’t need it every day," Gigante explained.

As it stands, the fight for yellow remains wide-open, with Gigante within a minute of all the other riders in the general classification behind her teammate Le Court. The picture in the GC could become a lot clearer after the summit finishes on the Col de la Madeleine on Saturday, and with the way Gigante was climbing at the Giro, the Australian will be one of the standout favourites for the stage victory and could propel herself further up the standings.