It was a nervous wait at the EF Education-Oatly team bus at the end of stage 2 of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in Quimper as out on the road, long after the winner had been decided, Kristen Faulkner was battling against the time limit. A crash made life even more difficult for the US rider, who was already persevering despite illness.
She made it, finishing 24:16 down from stage winner Mavi García (Liv AlUla Jayco) as the last rider over the line just inside the time cut, determined to fight on another day.
Many others may have walked away as a result of the illness itself, but it took a whole other level of perseverance to keep going when she was also knocked off her bike and catapulted into the bushes as well.
“Physically, I don't know if I've ever felt this strained in my life,” Faulkner told Cyclingnews in La Gacilly before the start of stage 3.
“But, you know, I have teammates here, and I can be helpful to them in the following stages and so for me, I just want to do everything I could to be there for them in future stages.
“I came into this Tour and I didn't have any personal goals for myself because I wasn't feeling well, but I still think it's worth continuing because I know I can be helpful to them. So yesterday, it was just a matter of getting across the finish line and being able to make time cuts so that I can start today.”
Faulkner had initially planned to start the race in a support role, with stages potentially an aim, but when illness struck in advance, that turned 100% to support, a role she clearly isn’t taking lightly given how hard she had to battle through the pain an tears to make it to the end on stage 2.
"This is a sport where you're on camera all the time, and they see your highs and they see you lows, and sometimes it can be hard when you're really struggling to have the world see that," said Faulkner.
“You know, it's really hard when you're at your lowest and cameras are pointing at you and recording you and getting all up in your face and it can feel de-humanising at times. But I think at the same time, it can be humanising and so I think as an athlete, it's a matter of, ‘how do I find grace for the cameras in those moments when I feel in some ways exploited’."
EF Education-Oatly have Cédrine Kerbaol solidly positioned in the overall standings. Ahead of stage 3, the local of the Brittany region in which the race is passing through was sitting in 14th overall, just 27 seconds back from the yellow jersey clad Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal).
“We still have big goals as a team, and I'm not here as an individual, I'm here as a team,” said Faulkner. “So for me, it's looking forward to what we can still do as a team and knowing that there are brighter days ahead for the team – I am really motivated and excited to see what we can do.
“I think what got me through yesterday is knowing that I still really believe in our GC ambitions, and I really want to be a part of it. If I didn't feel so optimistic about it, it would have been really hard to push so hard yesterday. But I think because I feel so much belief in our team and what we can do, it really kept me going.”
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