Pauline Ferrand-Prévot starts her season at Strade Bianche on Saturday. She would like to repeat her tour victory from last year. She thrilled her compatriots with this, and she herself was amazed by the huge response.
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot wants to banish thoughts of the future, of the time after cycling, for as long as possible, because she doesn’t yet have a plan for what could come. She wants to be a mother, that’s already clear, said the French winner of the Tour de France before the start of the season, which begins for her on March 7th with the gravel classic Strade Bianche in Tuscany. But otherwise? “Sometimes I’m a little afraid to think about what I want to do after my career as an athlete”says Ferrand-Prévot.
And that’s why it was no surprise that she extended her contract with Visma-Lease a Bike until 2028 in February. She would like to drive for another two and a half years, then she will be 37 years old. And by then something will emerge that complements the role of mother, says the Frenchwoman.
Last summer, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot from Reims was celebrated as her nation’s great redeemer. As a French heroine in yellow. As the winner of the Tour de France, the great sporting myth of her country. In France, in such a case, a saying is used to say that the particularly successful person has found the Holy Grail. And thus an unattainable, legendary, miraculous vessel that promises beatification and eternal honor.
A champion with charisma, charisma and chutzpah
Ferrand-Prévot, 34 years old since February 10th, was the first French woman to win the newly created Tour de France Femmes. The previous competition, the Tour de France féminin, which was of little importance in sports history, was last won by a French woman, Jeannie Longo, in 1989, the year this series was discontinued. Leaving aside this seven-tournament episode, France has been waiting since 1985 for someone to triumph on the Tour.
That summer, Bernard Hinault achieved this coup for the last time to date; it was only 40 years later that Pauline Ferrand-Prévot emerged as the savior of France’s cycling honor, the woman with the long blonde hair tied into a braid during competition and the enduring smile. A champion with charisma on and off the saddle, with charisma and chutzpah. A winner who is, above all, versatile.
Ferrand-Prévot on the final stage of the Tour
World leader in many types of cycling
Ferrand-Prévot has mastered various aspects of her sport so well that she was and is among the world’s best everywhere. From 2012 to 2019 she competed in both road and mountain bike races. In 2014 she became road world champion in Ponferrada, Spain, and in January 2015 she also won the rainbow jersey in cyclocross. In the same year there was also a world championship title for mountain bikers.
In 2019, Ferrand-Prévot decided to start mountain biking exclusively off-road; the double and triple burden became too great. It was a successful measure. Between 2019 and 2023 she became world champion four more times and became Olympic champion at the home games in Paris in 2024. Ferrand-Prévot was already an acclaimed star among her compatriots at this point. She was 32 years old and a great career seemed complete.
The decision made after this triumph to try again as a professional on the country roads has to do with the Tour of France for women, which has been organized by the Amaury Sport Organization (ASO) since the summer of 2022. The ASO also organizes the men’s tour and is the most important player in the cycling world. Ferrand-Prévot says: “Winning the Tour was a childhood dream. To have achieved it is fantastic.”
Season goal: victories in the classics, the Vuelta and the Tour
But she underestimated the consequences of her actions a little. “It was completely crazy. People in France love to see me as bigger than I am because of my Tour victory. I wasn’t prepared for that. It cost me a lot of energy.”she says in an interview with Sportschau.
Of course, I want to win the tour a second time. There’s less pressure because I’ve done it before.
She also wants to win the races she takes part in; she doesn’t know anything about development competitions, says Ferrand-Prévot. This initially applies to the Strade Bianche, the gravel classic in Tuscany on Saturday, where she is the five-star favorite as a hard-working ex-crosser and mountain biker. But this also applies to the Tour of Flanders, the Fleche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège in April and to the women’s Tour of Spain from May 3rd to 10th. And that especially applies to the Tour de France in the summer of 2026, which again has nine stages in the program between August 1st and 9th. “Of course, I want to win the Tour a second time. The pressure is less because I’ve already done it once.”says Ferrand-Prévot.
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot at the Visma team presentation in January with Jonas Vingegaard
No start Defending champion at Paris-Roubaix
Nevertheless, Ferrand-Prévot will not compete at Paris-Roubaix this spring, even though she is the defending champion. This time she is taking part in a high-altitude training camp in order to be able to realize her claims to victory in the difficult Ardennes climbs around Liège at the end of April.
Ferrand-Prevot was particularly consistent in his preparation for the 2025 Tour. Training at altitude was one component of her training plan, the other was a risky step – weight loss that was visibly significant. Her competitor Demi Vollering in particular then positioned herself as a professional cyclist who did not want to take this step.
“It was actually a big topic,” says Ferrand-Prévot. Once she realized it, she felt the discussion about starvation was “Sad for my parents, who had to hear a lot of things about me. But I can only say that something like this is normal for me. I’ve been doing this for ten years before big competitions. For me, it’s part of optimal preparation.” It was about balance, “to be light for the mountains and still not lose any strength”. She managed to do this in collaboration with nutritionists.
She also has a private highlight coming up next year. Ferrand-Prévot will then marry her Dutch fiancé Dylan van Baarle, who is also a professional cyclist. The wedding is taking place in France, until then van Baarle, with whom she converses in English, is supposed to “Learn French so he can talk to my parents. Makes sense, doesn’t it?”she asks, showing her famous Ferrand Prévot smile.
