at the Tourmalet, “it was huge to be encouraged at this point” – Liberation

The climber from the Cofidis team is taking part in her second Tour de France this year. Every evening, after her stage, “Libé” backpedals with her. Today, stage 7 between Lannemezan and the mythical col des Pyrénées.

For the second consecutive summer, Morgane Coston is taking part in the Grande Boucle. A biology teacher, the 32-year-old runner put her job aside two years ago to devote herself fully to cycling. Every evening for a week, the climber from the Cofidis team tells Libé about her Tour stage. This Saturday, July 29, she climbed the mythical Tourmalet, in the Pyrenees, and finished 56th, twenty-two minutes from Demi Vollering, the new yellow jersey.

“The stage was quite fast, with many attacks from the start, on the part which was still flat. Teams tried to anticipate, we also tried, it didn’t really work, maybe it wasn’t necessarily the right time. At the foot of the Col d’Aspin, the Movistar set a very high pace. From then on it was a bit of a save who can for everyone. There were already girls everywhere. Groups formed and we tried to continue together.

“At the Tourmalet, I had the impression of arriving at the gates of hell. It was all dark, damp, we couldn’t see much. We already had sore legs. This climb is particular, a little dry, 17 terminals, necessarily it is difficult. But as the war had been fought before, we were able to ride it fairly quietly, apart from Clara, our leader, who was jostling at the front with the leaders.

“So it was pretty fun. I had never seen so many spectators on a stage for women, except maybe last year on the Planche des Belles Filles. It was huge to be encouraged so much. We were really able to enjoy the public as we were far from the rest of the race. We shook hands with spectators, we did checks, I even asked people if they had a beer… We had fun with them.

“The costumes were also super funny. I even saw a guy dressed as a unicorn, it’s amazing to see that. My only disappointment is not having seen any llamas. In the Tourmalet, there are llamas everywhere. But there, I did not manage to see any. Probably because of the crowd and the fog.”