"I’ll try to follow or even attack myself" - Puck Pieterse just 27 seconds off Maillot Jaune as 2024 Tour de France Femmes heads to Alpe d'Huez

Most of the talk might be about Demi Vollering and Katarzyna Niewiadoma heading into the final stage of the 2024 Tour de France Femmes, but Puck Pieterse in still sitting dangerously in 2nd overall, just 27 seconds down on the Maillot Jaune in her Grand Tour debut.

After her heartbreak in the women's Olympic mountain bike in Paris a few weeks ago, where she finished 4th after a late mechanical and narrowly missed out on the medals, Pieterse announced her intentions on Tour de France Femmes debut as a stage win and winning the Best Young Rider's jersey. With a stage win already in the bag and a 45 second lead in the White Jersey, is Pieterse beginning to dream of taking the Maillot Jaune on the mythical slopes of one of the sports most famous arenas, Alpe d'Huez?

"I was always up there in the front and I think also with the team we were always in control a lot of the time so I’m quite happy about today," Pieterse reflects in her post-stage 7 interview, having lost a handful of seconds to both Vollering and Niewiadoma on the final climb as Justine Ghekiere took the stage win from the breakaway.

"Shirin van Anrooij (nearest White Jersey rival ed.) and I finished on the same time again today, so tomorrow for sure she will be trying to make some moves so I'll try to follow or even attack myself," Pieterse concludes her recap, before casting an eye to what awaits on the final stage atop Alpe d'Huez. "It’s the Dutch mountain so I’ve been there on holiday as a kid, I’ve been there two weeks ago to check it out a bit. So, I just know that it is a really, really hard climb and I think tomorrow will be even harder than today.”