Top-10 finish for Sarah Gigante on Tour de France Femmes debut 

Australian climber Sarah Gigante has had an impressive Tour de France Femmes debut, securing a top-10 finish in the general classification.  

The AG Insurance-Soudal rider fought her way to seventh overall on the final stage of this year’s Tour, which concluded with a mountaintop finish on the iconic Alpe d’Huez.  

While the battle for the yellow jersey was happening up the road between Demi Vollering, Pauliena Rooijakkers and Kasia Niewiadoma, Gigante was climbing her way up the overall standings, finishing eighth on the stage, and moving from 17^th to seventh on GC.  

The Brunswick Cycling Club rider was the best placed of the Australian finishers. 

Olympic time trial gold medallist Grace Brown (FDJ-Suez) was the next-best Aussie, finishing 27^th in general classification having played a key support role for her French teammate Évita Muzic, who finished fourth. Brown suffered an unlucky puncture during the stage 3 time trial, which ruled her out of contention for the stage win. 

Canyon-SRAM’s Neve Bradbury lost time early in the Tour after being involved in some crashes. However, she had plenty to celebrate after Polish teammate Niewiadoma won the race overall.  

It was a tough Tour for many of the other Australian riders. Five out of the nine Australians who lined up for this year’s edition were forced to abandon, many after being involved in crashes.  

Among those was Lidl-Trek climbing domestique Amanda Spratt, who fractured her hand on stage one, but battled on to ride for another five stages. Australian road champion Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv AlUla Jayco) also had an unlucky race, falling hard in a mass crash on stage five. 

Tour de France Femmes results

1st Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM)

2nd Demi Vollering  (SD Worx-Protime)

3rd Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck)

7th Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance - Soudal)

27th Grace Brown (FDJ Suez)

32nd Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM)

70th Sarah Roy (Cofidis)

Pictures: Thomas Maheux / A.S.O.