‘My body just completely shut off’ – Kim Le Court-Pienaar’s yellow-saving down hill fight back at Tour de France Femmes

Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) looked down for the count when she fell away from the group of GC favourites on the final climb of the Col du Granier on Friday’s stage 7 of the Tour de France Femmes, and the gap grew to the point where her yellow jersey looked set to find another home.

“My body just completely shut off at that moment, and then I just had to focus on my own numbers and my own pace and try and do the best climb possible, but also kind of not kill myself,” Le Court-Pienaar told the assembled reporters at her fourth yellow jersey press conference of the week.

“Then once I got to the top, I knew I had no help from the other girls, because it was girls who were teammates of the GC riders in front.”

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Le Court-Pienaar was around 35 seconds behind the group of GC favourites at the top of the category 2 Col du Granier and now had to draw on what she’d learnt during her reconnaissance ride of the descent to try and pull back the seconds.

“I went ten times faster than the recon, to be honest,” said Le Court-Pienaar. My team has been fighting so hard this whole week for me; they rode their hearts out for me this whole week, so it’s very, very, very difficult to give up when you have a team so dedicated to one goal.

“I had no choice, it was really my turn to ride my heart out for them, and that’s exactly what I did in the downhill. I really didn’t think about it. I just wanted to keep yellow.”

She made the junction in the final kilometres of the stage, but the rider said the hurdles didn’t end there.

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“When I got back in the group, I got completely blocked by two FDJ riders at one point, which was really not nice. But I guess that’s cycling, and that’s tactics in their perspective,” said Le Court-Pienaar.

The incident doesn’t appear to have been caught on camera, and there were no related yellow cards or fines that appeared on the list.

When asked for more details, Le Court-Pienaar said: “It was just a silly moment to be honest. I was back in the group, and we went around the corner on the roundabout, and then the group got stretched out.

“Demi [Vollering] then got a little bit of a gap, and Juliette [Labous] and Evita [Muzic], I think, completely blocked the road. It was a small little path and I almost hit the barrier at the point, but I didn’t think about it. I just jumped straight away and screamed to let me through.

“It is what it is, but I’m glad at the end that I didn’t lose time.”

Le Court-Pienaar finished sixth among the favourites group and remains 26 seconds ahead of nearest rival Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike).

Teammate Sarah Gigante is also placed in eighth overall at 1:14, though her performance provided a contrast to her teammate’s in that she was thriving on the climbs but falling back on the descents. Still, it’s the climb that is going to matter most on Saturday’s stage 7, so the advantage goes to Gigante with a summit finish at the top of Col de la Madeleine.

“We’ve got a few cards to play tomorrow,” said Le Court-Pienaar. “I’m going to try and recover the best possible, and we’re going to still fight, and hopefully light some fireworks.”

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