Earlier this week, UAE Team ADQ's Tour de France Femmes campaign looked to have hit a roadblock after the illness and withdrawal of team leader and GC hope Elisa Longo Borghini. However, three days and countless attacks later, the four remaining riders – three of them race debutants – have turned the Tour around.
Lara Gillespie has been in the mix on the flat finishes, taking third in Poitiers, while Dominika Włodarczyk has been edging ever nearer the GC top 10. Meanwhile, on Thursday afternoon, Maëva Squiban and Brodie Chapman went on the attack for the third time in five days.
