Monday saw that amazing breakaway victory.

Haugset’s spectacular solo effort surprised the peloton’s leading teams and on the eve of the 21km individual time trial, from Gevrey‑Chambertin to Dijon, she leads by 2min 2sec from Kim Le Court.

“I was thinking about all my teammates and everyone cheering from home, so I had to give it my all,” she said. “All done in the Norwegian champion’s jersey, too – it’s fantastic.

“We had looked at this stage and it was the goal for this Tour. I told my father I’d get some flowers today. Tomorrow is the time trial, but I haven’t worked on it this year so I will just enjoy it.”