Local hero Squiban storms to second straight Tour win
Friday's victory was Squiban's second in two days, making her only the fourth rider to claim back-to-back stages at the race.
Gigante, who moved into the leading group after finishing in the leading pack on Wednesday, came home in 16th place for the second day running, 1 minute 11 seconds behind the winner.
The result meant the AG Insurance-Soudal rider slipped a place to eighth in the general classification, 1 min 14 sec behind yellow jersey wearer Kimberley Le Court Pienaar.
The 23-year-old Squiban attacked on the upper slopes of the Col du Granier (8.9km at 5.4%) to reach the finish of the hilly stage alone, which lifted the UAE Team ADQ rider to second in the polka dot jersey standings, level on 17 points with Dutchwoman Silke Smulders.
"Honestly, winning once on the Tour is already huge and now a second win...It was an incredible day. I think it was one of the hardest days of my life, mentally as well as physically. But you have to give everything," Squiban said.
"On the last climb, I just wanted to lie down on the ground, and by the end, I think for the last 15km, I was barely present - I couldn't hear anything in my ear."
It was another French one-two as Cedrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) crossed the line 51 seconds behind Squiban to take second place and American Ruth Edwards was third.
A 17-rider breakaway had lit up the 159.7km stage from Bourg-en-Bresse, with Fiona Mangan (Winspace Orange Seal) becoming the first Irish rider to win an intermediate sprint at the Tour.
The move split on the Cote de Saint-Franc before Squiban's decisive attack on the final climb. Mauritian rider Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) lost ground on the Granier but finished sixth to retain the yellow jersey.
Le Court is ahead of Frenchwoman Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Visma-Lease a Bike) by 26 seconds and Poland's Katarzyna Niewiadoma Phinney (Canyon-SRAM) by 30 seconds.
Mountains classification leader Elise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez) endured a difficult day and was distanced from the peloton before Squiban's climb.
Ruby Roseman-Gannon was the only other Australian rider to finish inside the top 100 and she is 68th overall.
Saturday's mountain stage will be from Chambery to Saint-Francois-Longchamp.
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"I told myself to be aggressive with the next break point that I got, and from them on I felt quite comfortable.'' In the quarter-finals, Popyrin faces top-seeded Alexander Zverev, who advanced after the No.14 seed Francisco Cerundolo, of Argentina, was forced to retire with an abdominal injury with the German leading 6-4 1-0. Zverev, the 2017 Canadian Open champion who is ranked third in the world, ended up the top seed in Toronto after the world's two top-ranked players Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz skipped the event. Another Australian, ninth-seeded Alex de Minaur, plays his round-of-16 clash against American Frances Tiafoe on Sunday (Monday AEST). De Minaur came to Canada in impeccable form, having won last week's Washington Open, his 10th career title. De Minaur has twice reached the quarter-finals at the hard-court event at Flushing Meadows, firstly in 2021, then repeating that effort last year. 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