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Pauline Ferrand-Prévot made all sorts of history on Saturday. First French winner of Paris-Roubaix Femmes. First Olympic champion to take the race.
And, if you like trivia, part of the first couple to win the men’s and women’s editions of the event.
“We did an interview together for Le Parisien,” she said, referring to her partner Dylan Van Baarle.
“It was the first interview we spoke about maybe getting my cobble and his cobble. In my head it was not a big goal… For sure I am super happy to win, but it was not like a goal to win it.
“But to be honest, I will be proud to put mine close to his cobble at home.”
Van Baarle triumphed in 2022, pulling off the biggest win of his career. Like Ferrand-Prévot, his success was unexpected.
He started the race as an outsider but triumphed with a 19km attack.
Ferrand-Prévot followed almost the same template on Saturday, kicking clear of the lead group with 25km remaining and soloing to a classy win.
It was inspired, it was dominant, and it was not anything she had anticipated beforehand.
“The race was not even in the calendar,” she revealed. “Normally I was supposed to be at altitude for two weeks.
“After Strade and San Remo I discussed with my coach and I said, ‘please can I do Flanders?’ So they talked together and they said you can do Flanders.
“One week later I said, ‘can I do Roubaix?’ They thought [about it] and they said you can do Roubaix. So it was really not on my calendar. It was kind of a last moment decision.”
It was, she said, something she wanted to do in order to get ready for that hectic opening stages in this year’s Tour de France Femmes.
But to win it?
That wasn’t something she expected at all.
Multiple gold medals across multiple disciplines
Ferrand-Prévot has long been recognized as a very talented rider.
She won world titles in both road and MTB disciplines as a junior, and continued that versatility over the years.
In 2014 she had a spectacular season, winning the elite worlds and Flèche Wallonne, and netting second overall in the Giro d’Italia Femminile.
Poised to dominate road racing, she instead shifted her attention away.
Ferrand-Prévot focused more and more on off-road events for many years, winning multiple world titles in MTB racing and taking the XC title at the 2024 Olympic Games.
She relished the mud and the dust, embracing that wing of the sport.
And then, Olympic gold medal achieved on home soil, she set a new target. She would leave MTB, refocus on the women’s peloton, and aim to win the Tour de France Femmes.
She’d allow herself three years to achieve that goal, with her first priority simply finding her place again.
Being a non-finisher at last autumn’s worlds showed things wouldn’t be easy, but she knuckled down and worked hard.
“It was not easy,” she said. “If you saw me last year at the world championship on the road you can say that it was not easy. There was quite a lot of work to do in the winter, to be patient and to have trust in the process.
“It’s a completely different sport, so you have to get used to everything. It was quite a lot of work during winter.
“It was also like a building process. Now I feel quite comfortable in the bunch.”
‘Marianne said to me can ‘you attack.’ I said maybe it is smart to wait a little’
Taking 17th in the UAE Tour Women was encouraging. Third in Strade Bianche Donne was even better, and second behind Lotte Kopecky in the Tour of Flanders showed she was getting closer and closer.
But still victory Roubaix was far from her mind.
“I was not feeling super well the last few days. I crashed in Strade and since that I didn’t really totally recover from the crash,” she said after her win on Saturday.
“I got an infection on my ankle and I had to take antibiotics one time, two times. I stopped the antibiotics on Wednesday and I got sick again on Thursday. So I skipped training yesterday because I was feeling really weak.”
Ferrand-Prévot woke up Saturday and realized her fever was gone. She decided to give the race a bit try, mostly to help Marianne Vos.
“The goal was to make the sprinters tired,” she said, “mostly to bring Marianne as fresh as possible so that she could be able to sprint for the win.”
Kopecky was in fine form, riding more and more aggressively as the race progressed.
She launched a big attack on the Auchy-lez-Orchies stretch of pave, sector 12 of the race. Ferrand-Prévot had fallen moments beforehand and was delayed, but Vos covered that move plus subsequent surges by Kopecky, leading to a lot of stop/start racing.
Visma-Lease a Bike had cards to play, and decided to give Ferrand-Prévot a chance.
“Marianne said to me ‘can you attack on the cobblestone section?’” she explained.
“I said everyone is already a bit full gas so maybe it is smart to just wait a little and attack on the tarmac. And it is what I did.
“After that I think it was not super organized behind and I could have a gap. I just tried to go full gas to make them work.”
Ferrand-Prévot powered onwards and, using her off-road skills, gained time over the difficult pavé sections.
She was a minute clear with 11km remaining and while Kopecky put in a belated chase, it was too little, too late.
“I was not really thinking about winning the race, to be honest,” she said. “I just wanted to make SD Worx work.
“At the end I won so it is super cool.”
‘We must discover what I can do’
Visma-Lease a Bike head into Sunday’s men’s race hoping to land another win. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) have commanded much of the media attention so far. But, with riders such as Wout van Aert and Van Baarle on the team, the Dutch squad can’t be ruled out.
“I really hope also the guys can do well together and bring another cobble for Visma-Lease a Bike,” Ferrand-Prévot said.
Team loyalties and Van Baarle’s participation will keep her glued to the action but once the race is done, her thoughts will turn to her next goals, and what has become the dominant target in her life.
“I really want to win Tour de France,” she said. “It is the next big goal of my career.
“Winning the Olympics at home last year was the biggest victory I ever had. Now I am really enjoying being back on the road and also to work as a team with my teammates.
“To work all together is just amazing.”
Ferrand-Prévot is now 33 years of age, but has renewed enthusiasm for the bike. Switching focus back in 2015 proved very successful for her, and she is hoping the same will happen again.
The signs are certainly very promising thus far.
“I am feeling so good and so happy,” she said. “So let’s see.
“Last weekend I was not confident enough to attack, but I said today I need to try something. Every weekend it is a step higher. It is a cool process.”
She and the team will keep building in the weeks and months ahead. The pressure is off for now but you can be sure her natural ambition will push her on.
“I have a free role and I just race like I want,” she said. “In this first year back on the road we must discover what I can do.”
Past 2025, though, she is clear where her ambitions lie.
“We need to make the team stronger to be able to win the Tour de France,” she said.
“Also for me to be able to climb longer climbs will be next step. I am really looking forward to the next challenge.”
If she keeps progressing like she has so far, Tour success might not take three years to achieve.
