“The public on the side of the road, it was phew, we barely heard each other” – 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 4 between Cahors and Rodez.

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 Wednesday, July 26, during the 4th stage between Cahors and Rodez, she finished 66th, almost nine minutes from Yara Kastelijn, the winner of the day.

“A breakaway started, from the first kilometer. All the girls in the break were not really ranked overall, the leading teams easily allowed time, up to ten minutes, it suited them like that. But behind, the peloton made curtain: the leaders decided that the breakaway was going to stay like that and locked everything, preventing other girls from joining them. Why didn’t I take it from the start? I was in the wrong place, at the wrong time. It didn’t go where we thought it would. Then we tried, we attacked, we gave it our all… In short, once again, we were disappointed.

“It reaccelerated about 30 km from the finish. It was not flat, the leaders want to be well placed in a final like this with climbs, descents and winding roads. Inevitably, it starts to roll faster and faster. It’s not always possible to keep up, whether physically or technically, with fatigue, bad placement… On top of that, in the middle of the race, our sprinter, while going to get bottles, completely reassembled on train tracks: here we are with an additional injured person.

“Fortunately, we were once again carried by the public. On the side of the road, it was phew, we barely heard each other. People were all there, cheering us on, especially on the final climbs. It was absolutely brilliant, fantastic, moving, motivating.

“Yesterday, on a climb in the Dordogne, I had already experienced a special moment. I passed scouts shouting my name. They had made a little song and on three placards they had written: “A fond avec Coston”. It was super nice. At the time, it really did me a lot of good, it gave me a boost. But I’m still looking for them. I would like to know their names because I don’t know them at all. I wonder who they are!”