"Two of her teammates blocked me. Is that their tactics?" - Kim Le Court fuming after stage 7

Kim Le Court did almost unthinkable to defend her jersey in the seventh stage of Tour de France Femmes today, but despite the great news, the Mauritian rider was fuming at the finish line after some questionable actions from her rivals.

"When I had to let go, I completely exploded," Le Court admits afterwards. "Then I focused on my values and found my own pace. At the top, I was on my own. I had to ride the descent of my life. I had reconnoitered it a few weeks earlier, so I knew what was coming. But I think I went down 10 times faster than I did then."

Le Court didn't know she was virtually losing her yellow jersey. "I didn't know about the differences. I was still able to catch up with a lot of girls."

When she rejoined the front, Le Court realized the fierce battle for the overall victory. "Demi (Vollering) had created a gap at a roundabout. I wanted to close the gap, but two of her teammates, Juliette (Labous) and Evita (Muzic), blocked me. That wasn't nice. I yelled at them to let me through. But that must be tactics according to them, right?"

The stage 8 will be the queen stage of this year's edition with a brutal 19-kilometer final climb at 8% - La Madeleine. After her massive effort to stay in yellow today, there's no doubt Le Court will put up a fight to hang on to the jersey also on this brute of a mountain, but she remains realistic about her own chances against the best climbers in the world.

Le Court is well-aware AG Insurance - Soudal Team has an even better card to play for the GC further minute down the standings: "Although I don't want to think about that too much right now. We have several cards to play with the team," she says, referring to her teammate Sarah Gigante.