Emotional Sarah Gigante Opens Up About Weakness After 'Incredible Performance': "I Receive Negative Messages About It"

If everything goes well in the final stage, Sarah Gigante looks set to finish on the podium of the Tour de France Femmes. The Australian climber from AG Insurance-Soudal climbed to second place on the Col de la Madeleine. Afterwards, she was quite emotional. "In January, I couldn't even ride my bike. To then come second on the Col de la Madeleine behind an Olympic champion is incredible."

"I really dreamed of winning the stage and my team worked so hard for me, but in the end, I'm happy with second place," Gigante begins emotionally. "Pauline was simply stronger. I haven’t seen her yet, but really, hats off to her."

Gigante is only 24, but she has already faced many physical setbacks in her short career. She has had heart problems in the past and had to undergo surgery last winter for a narrowed iliac artery. "In January, I couldn’t even ride. To then come second on the Col de la Madeleine behind an Olympic champion is unbelievable," she says.

Weak spot
Just like in previous stages, Gigante was put under pressure on the descents leading to the Col de la Madeleine. Thanks to her teammates – especially yellow jersey wearer Kim Le Court today – she was always able to come back. "Today was really another dream performance from our team. Thanks to them, I could start the final climb feeling quite fresh."

So this wasn’t the first time Gigante was pressured on descent. Descending is the Australian’s weak spot, and she is well aware of it herself. "I still have a lot to work on with my descending, and I get a lot of negative messages about it. Even though I try not to look at them, people message me about it. I might not be the best descender, but coming second here is pretty cool," she smiles.

Yellow jersey sacrifices herself
But not only after the descents could Gigante count on her teammates; also on the final climb, Le Court and Justine Ghekiere, who dropped back from the breakaway group, did a lot of front work. "Oh my God, to see the yellow jersey sacrifice herself like that for me is incredible. That was absolutely Kim’s own choice."

"In this morning’s team meeting, she said she wanted to race her own race, but I think she decided halfway through the stage to sacrifice herself for me. Even before her crash, she went to the team car for me and waited for me after the descents."

This visibly means a lot to the Australian climber. "It’s very special, to finish second is so amazing. It feels unreal and I owe it all to my team. I really love them," she says tearfully.

First attack
Gigante was the first GC contender to launch an attack in the finale of the queen stage of the Tour de France. The AG Insurance Soudal climber accelerated after front work from her yellow jersey teammate. "That was the plan, I knew I wanted to go there. But Kim (Le Court, ed.) rode so hard that she almost dropped me," she laughs afterwards.

With one stage to go, Gigante is well placed in the general classification. The Australian currently stands second behind Ferrand-Prévot and has a margin of more than half a minute over third place Demi Vollering.