Few cycling champions can boast of having such a record displayed on their bib. Except of course Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. Whatever the mount – on the road or on a mountain bike, as the coach of the French cycling team explained –, “She scares everyone.”
It must be said that there is something there. Until the Paris 2024 Olympics, his record was as long as a day without bread. World champion in cross-country mountain biking (2015, 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023), world champion in marathon mountain biking (2019 and 2022), not to mention the European and French titles.
The Élancourt hill for the summit of Olympus
She was also cyclo-cross world champion (2015) and gravel world champion (2022). On the road, it's not bad either, since she was world champion in 2014 but also won a classic, the Flèche wallonne, the same year. Let's not throw any more away, the cup is full. Well almost, because she was missing something that had frustrated her since the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
While she was the favorite in Japan with the other Frenchwoman Loana Lecomte, Pauline slipped during the mountain bike event and suffered a puncture on the 3rde lap of the race. She finished 10e. A gaping hole in her record that she couldn't leave like that. The Paris Olympics could therefore only be those of revenge. It is on the hill of Élancourt, in Yvelines, that the Frenchwoman will come full circle in her busy history with mountain biking.
On July 28, the Frenchwoman, world champion in the discipline, escaped in the second lap of the 7 to be covered on a 4.4 km circuit. Encouraged by the screams of a crowd fully committed to her cause, Pauline irremediably widened the gaps with her adversaries, who would never see her again. All in lightness and power, PFP, so far above the others, took the time to savor the final straight, warmly thanking the hundreds of supporters gathered in the finish area to cheer him on.
In tears, crazy with joy, she savored this moment that she had dreamed of for so long. During the closing ceremony, the Frenchwoman, as a symbol of resilience, was designated flag bearer of the French delegation. No matter, her wonderful adventure could have ended with this Olympic coronation, but it was a poor understanding of this athlete who already had other projects in mind.
Barely crowned with her laurel wreath, she announced that she wanted to rediscover the pleasure of the road and her desire to participate in the road world championships in September. “I decided to return to the road because last winter, I asked myself: “What will I do after the Olympics?” I was done with mountain biking, but I wasn't tired of cycling. So it was the right time for me to open a new page in my career,” she declared to the sports daily the Team.
At the same time, or almost, she signed a pro contract with the Dutch women's road team Visma-Lease a Bike, with the sole objective of participating in the 2025 women's Tour de France. And why not… she who had already won stages on other grand Tours, adorning yourself in yellow this time? In any case, this is the ambition she displays.
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