Complete silence and pure heartbreak: Sarah Gigante stared blankly for minutes before tears came

When Gigante crossed the finish line, no one really knew how to react. She was immediately caught by someone from her team and escorted to a quiet spot away from the crowd. Her face is frozen in panic, but once she dismounts and feels the asphalt beneath her feet, her gaze goes blank. She accepts a bottle of water, but Gigante stares blankly ahead for several minutes. She doesn't even notice the crowd of journalists surrounding her.

After the incredibly unusual stare into space, Gigante returns to reality a few minutes later and looks around her. She swallows once, puts on a fake smile, and tells the interviewers they can start. “It was a super tough day, and I didn't feel strong enough to make a difference on the climb. I suffered on the descent, but just below the top of the Joux-Plane, I was already dropped on the climb. The descent was so tough, and I knew the rest were stronger,” she said honestly.

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At first, the damage seemed limited when we were halfway down the descent. Gigante lost half a minute, but that was all for a while. In a sprint towards the Col du Corbier, the group, including yellow jersey wearer Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, had the advantage and the gap grew to two minutes. After the Corbier, the gap grew further, and Gigante eventually lost 6.40 minutes to stage winner and overall winner Ferrand-Prévot.

“I tried to limit my loss and eventually got a group behind me. The team did a great job setting me up towards Joux-Plane, but unfortunately, I couldn't finish their work,” Gigante added. The climber finished seventh in last year's Tour, but finishing one place higher didn't feel like much of an improvement. “I do feel that I performed much better this year than last year, even though I only finished one place higher.”

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“I'm proud of the team, even though we would have liked to have done better in the GC,” Gigante concluded, once again with a genuine smile. Kimberley Le Court won a stage and wore the yellow jersey for several days, while Gigante herself fought for a place on the Tour podium until the final day. “Every rider in this peloton deserves to be here, and you have to ride for a top team even to have a chance. I only found out two days before the Tour that I would be participating. Everyone trains so hard.”

“It's a tough sport, but sometimes it's worth it,” said the victim of the final day. “I'm disappointed that I didn't make it to the podium.” That was evident because although her smile seemed to return, Gigante collapsed to the ground after the interviews and began to cry. CEO Jurgen Foré and team leader Jolien D'Hoore had to step in to comfort their leader.

Bram van der Ploeg (Twitter: @BvdPloegg | email: [email protected])