A few weeks before her biggest career win on stage 7, Justine Géquière (AG Insurance-Souldal) was not even scheduled to compete in the Tour de France femme. But after being called up as a reserve, she seized the opportunity on her first real mountain day, and as the current queen of the mountains, with a stunning solo ride.

At the finish line in Chaillyon's Guéquière, where the day's breakaway had taken 4 hours and 26 minutes of all-out racing and what had previously been a dream had become a reality, emotions exploded and Guéquière fell to the ground, hugging Soigner and bursting into tears.

Just a few hundred meters away from the end of Guéquière's triumphant race, the AG-Insurance Soudal bus was equally emotional. It was a victory in the Tour de France Femmes, a victory in one of the Tour's most iconic symbols, the maillot à pois, and a victory for the underdog.

“To win a stage wearing this beautiful polka jersey is just amazing and a dream come true. It's really incredible to be on the podium three times, even though I wasn't supposed to race here this week. At the post-race press conference, Géquière had a big smile on his face. [As we entered the last kilometer, I thought maybe I could win this stage.

AG Insurance-Soudal also went into the Tour without leader Ashley Moolman-Pasio, but they were not intimidated and pulled above their weight against big teams like SD Walks-Pro Time and Canyon-SRAM.

“I think she really deserved it. She actually only came here as a reserve because she was called up late to the race, but I'm really glad she came because it was a great day for the team. Everyone was great,” Sara Gigante told Cycling News and Velo as she warmed down.

“She is really nice and also very determined and hardworking.

AG Insurance Soudal is one of the newer teams in the women's peloton, operating on a small budget and only competing in its first year of the Women's World Tour in 2024.

“I always root for the underdog, and that's cool because we're the underdog against a really big team.

“So of course I came here with ambition and I wanted results and stage wins. So it's unbelievable.”

With less than 80km to go, Géquière was thinking only of scoring points in the mountains to defend his jersey on the longest stage of 166.4km, which included five mountain sections.

But not only she, but Julie Van de Velde also made the jump, and Gekière earned high praise from the entire team for her contribution to the victory, extending her lead in the QOM class to 16 points over Pac Peterse (Phoenix-Desseuninck).

“I want to especially thank Julie (Van de Velde). I want to especially thank Julie (Van de Velde). She pulled away from us and gave us almost a five-minute time gap.

“Julie van de Velde was the strongest rider in the peloton and a great teammate. 0]

Géquière and Gigante admitted that they were only thinking about scoring points in the breakaway group, as this stage could be occupied by the GC group that will be the first summit finish in the 2024 race. But the Aussie also revealed that he had a special motivation.

“On the bus, DS said to me, ‘If you work hard until tomorrow, I'll give you a polka-dot bike.’

On the final queen stage to Alpe d'Huez, she would wear a full polka-dot set-up. But it may be here that Gigante shines after marking inside the GC group and finishing on stage 7.

After struggling on the flats and riding at the back of the pack in Rotterdam's Grand Depart, Gigante admitted she was “a billion times happier” being in the mountains.

“It's no secret that I'm most uncomfortable in a group, especially on the flats. Especially on the flat roads. It's hard to get to the top, so I'm happy to be in the race today. I am confident that tomorrow will be better.

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