'That’s tactics, I guess?' – Le Court frustrated after FDJ riders block

Stage seven of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift saw Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal) come close to ceding the overall lead, but the yellow jersey fought back to finish with the GC group, holding on for at least one more day.

The Col du Granier provided the final uphill test on the 159.7km stage between Bourg-en-Bresse and Chambéry, but the trouble started earlier than that, on the slopes of the fourth category Côte de Berland. Fenix-Deceuninck headed to the front on the short but steep climb, their pace dropping a number of riders from the peloton and putting others in trouble.

They put in a repeat performance on the Granier, and, around 3km from the top of the 8.9km climb, Le Court’s yellow jersey slipped inexorably out of the GC group. By the time she crested the col, her deficit was more than 30 seconds deficit which would have put her down to second on GC. But while Maeva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ) was descending to a second successive stage victory, the classification favourites were also flying, so Le Court was forced into the descent of her life.   

“I wasn’t feeling so good since the start of the stage, to be honest,” she said. “It’s been a few days, I’ve been going through some stuff, but I tried to kind of hide it and try to manage it as best as possible.

“l’ve got a really good team around me and on the last climb it was really difficult for me personally, my body just completely shut off, but then I just never gave up, I just kept looking at my own tempo, my own numbers to the top and I had to do the best downhill of my life.”

Le Court has been a revelation this year. After years of winning on her mountain bike, AG Insurance-Soudal took a punt, signing her last year. She made an instant statement, winning the final stage of the Giro d’Italia Women, before closing this year’s successful spring season with victory at Liége-Bastogne-Liège. 

The team has been vital in her success, with Justine Ghekiere in the 17-woman break, Sarah Gigante with the GC group and support from others earlier in the day.

“With my whole team working so hard this week, it’s really difficult to give up, you just don’t want to disappoint them and disappoint the people that came all the way to see me, all the way from Mauritius and overseas, so I had to fight. I’ve got a really strong mindset, I think that’s my advantage. 

“I knew the downhill, I reconned it before with the team, so I just had to do the best downhill of my life, and try and kill myself a few times on a few hairpins. I’m pretty happy I got back.”

Unaware of her deficit at the time, Le Court said she had no idea she was at risk of losing the yellow jersey. “I didn’t know anything about the time gaps,” she said. “I just tried to catch as many riders as I could.”

Back in the front group, she realised the battle for the GC was being fought with full force - and full tactics. “Demi [Vollering] had created a gap at a roundabout. I wanted to follow, but two of her teammates, Juliette [Labous] and Evita [Muzic], blocked me. That wasn’t fair. I shouted at them to let me through. But I guess they’d call it tactics, right?”

Despite her success, we’ve not seen Le Court in the high mountains. At last year’s Giro, she finished well behind the leaders on the mountain top finishes, and though the team must have confidence in her, assigning her as their GC leader, it remains to be seen how she will go on this weekend’s two mountain top finishes, where no descending antics can save her.

“It depends how good I recover tonight, but we’ll take it day by day. My team mate Sarah is looking really good.”

Sarah Gigante thinks her team mate will be fine, but where Le Court saved yellow with her exceptional descending, Gigante needed Ghekiere’s help to stay in contact on the downhill run to the line in Chambéry. But the Australian is by far a more accomplished climber, winning both mountain top finishes at the recent Giro d’Italia Women. What the Tour takes with one hand, AG Insurance-Soudal could take back with the other.