Just weeks before netting the biggest win of her career on stage 7, Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal) wasn’t even meant to be at the Tour de France Femmes. But after being called up as a reserve, she grabbed the opportunity with both hands in stunning solo fashion no less, on the first real mountain day and, fittingly, as the current Queen of the Mountains.
The emotions burst out at the finish line for Ghekiere in Chinaillon after what was previously a dream materialised into reality after four hours and 26 minutes of all-out racing in the day’s breakaway, Ghekiere falling to the ground and the tears flooding out as she embraced her soigneur.
Just a few hundred metres away from Ghekiere’s triumphant ride coming to a close, the emotions at the AG-Insurance Soudal bus rang true all the same - hugs all around and cheers bellowing out. It was a win at the Tour de France Femmes, a win in one of the Tour’s most iconic symbols - the maillot à pois and a win for the underdogs.
“Winning a stage in this beautiful polka jersey is really amazing and It’s just a dream. First I wasn’t supposed to race here this week and now three times on the podium is really amazing and I cannot believe it. I cannot believe I did this,” said Ghekiere in her post-race press conference with a huge smile pinned ear to ear across her face.
“When I went in the last kilometre, then I was thinking maybe I can win this stage, I just went full and gave everything I had left because I was dying so much and winning a stage in the Tour is really a dream.”
AG Insurance-Soudal also came into the Tour without their leader Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, but they didn’t fret, and in the face of the bigger teams like SD Worx-Protime and Canyon-SRAM, they punched well above their weight.
“I really think she deserves it and she was actually called up late to the race so she was only here as a reserve and I’m so glad she came because what a day for the team. Everyone was amazing,” Sarah Gigante told Cyclingnews and Velo as she warmed down.
“She’s really nice and also very determined and a hard-working person, I don’t think anyone deserves this more than her.”
AG Insurance-Soudal are one of the newer teams in the women’s pro peloton, operating with a smaller budget and only competing at their first year in the Women’s WorldTour in 2024, however, this didn’t hold them back.
“I always root for the underdogs and it’s cool because we are underdogs here against some really big teams and we’re actually missing our leader Ashleigh Moolman Pasio.
“So we still came here of course ambitious and we wanted results and a stage win but I mean it’s always going to be hard when you’re lining up against people like Demi Vollering. So it’s just incredible.”
Ghekiere got into the key move with just over 80km to go, hoping merely to get points in the Queen of the Mountains classification to defend her jersey throughout the longest stage of the race - 166.4km - with five classified climbs on offer.
But she wasn’t alone, as Julie Van de Velde had also managed to make the jump and her services were invaluable, earning her high praise throughout the team for helping Ghekiere both extend her lead in the QOM classification to 16 points from Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) and take the win.
“I really want to thank Julie [Van de Velde] especially because she was really amazing in the breakaway. She did such great work to keep us away and give us a time gap of almost 5 minutes then it was my job to make it off on the climbs to take all the points,” said Ghekiere.
“To have Julie van de Velde, maybe the strongest rider in the whole peloton, absolutely amazing teammate, in the breakaway I knew it was going to be an awesome day but yeah to hang onto the stage win and win by quite a bit is really quite incredible.”
Ghekiere and Gigante both confirmed that the plan was only to get points in the breakaway, expecting the stage to possibly be taken by the GC group up the first summit finish of the 2024 race. But the Aussie also revealed there was some extra motivation.
“In the bus, our DS told us, ‘if you hang onto it till tomorrow, then we’ll get you a polka-dot bike’, so that was definitely the main goal,” laughed Gigante before pointing to the Specialized box holding the polka-dot bike ready for Ghekiere on tomorrow’s final stage.
She’ll don the full polka-dot setup in the final queen stage to Alpe d’Huez, an honour in itself, and after moving up to 10th overall, she has a great chance to take the QOM jersey and a great GC result. But it could be the terrain for Gigante to shine after working well to mark moves and finish in the GC group on stage 7.
After struggling on the flat and riding off the back in the Rotterdam Grand Départ, Gigante admitted she was “Like a billion times happier” to be in the mountains.
“It’s no secret that I don’t feel the most comfortable in the bunch, especially on the flat roads. I find it hard to move up so I feel really strong though and I’m glad that I could be part of the race today. And I’m sure tomorrow will be even better, the hills are harder.”
Get unlimited access to all of our coverage of the 2024 Tour de France Femmes - including breaking news and analysis reported by our journalists on the ground from every stage as it happens and more. Find out more.
