Kim LeCourt (AG Insurance - Suredal) found redemption in the Giro d'Italia women's stage 8: The 28-year-old from Mauritius, who was competing in her first Women's World Tour, won her first pro road race in L'Aquila, beating Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health) and Franzi Koch (DSM- Firmenich Post NL) in L'Aquila to claim her first pro road win.

"I have no words. It has been my dream to be in this group and to be at the start of every race in the World Tour this year. Of course, it's what I've always wanted, it's what I always dream about, but I don't know if it's possible," Lecourt said after the stage.

In May, Lecourt admitted in a Cycling News feature that he sometimes lacks confidence in his abilities.

"I always saw other riders as stronger than me, but today I proved that it is possible. It's not just for me, it's for the team. We've had some bad luck in the Giro, and to finish like this is great," Lecourt said.

Her path to the Women's World Tour peloton was not a straightforward one: after two seasons in Europe in 2015 and 2016, Le Court returned to her native South Africa; in 2023, she took up mountain biking and signed a 2024 AG Insurance-Soudal offered her.

In the spring classics, Le Court turned heads with a fine 10th place in Paris-Roubaix; she won the Mauritius championships in June and wore a glamorous champion jersey with a red, blue, yellow, and green breast band on a white background in the Giro.

Le Côté made steady progress in the overall standings during the first half of the Giro and was in fifth place overall after four stages, but lost time on stage 6 and 16 minutes on stage 7. This time loss, however, did not mean that she would endanger the GC riders on the final stage.

"I lost a lot of time on GC, so my work on GC was done and I went into today to have fun. The tactic was to win the stage with either my teammate Gaia (Massetti) or myself. We had nothing to lose, so it was all or nothing. I gave it everything I had and to finish first was really crazy."