Women’s Paris-Roubaix: Olympic mountain bike champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot becomes first Frenchwoman to win

“I was confident that the team could do something really good. But you also needed to have some luck and to put everything together.”

The cross-discipline rider was making her debut in the race, having rejoined the road circuit in 2025 after a decade’s absence.

Defending champion Lotte Kopecky of Belgium finished 12th, a place ahead of Great Britain’s Pfeiffer Georgi, while compatriot Zoe Backstedt was 15th.

Ferrand-Prevot’s victory came despite a fall 53km from the end of the race, which features 17 cobbled sectors totalling 29.2km. She had also suffered from illness in the build-up.

“I’ve been sick for the last two days. I didn’t even know if I was going to start,” she said. “In the end, I did the right thing by coming.

“I started thinking I was going to do my best to help [team-mate] Marianne Vos win. I can’t believe it.”

Ferrand-Prevot said she had started to “really enjoy” her comeback on the road, and that winning the Tour de France Femmes, which takes place from 26 July to 3 August, was her “main goal”.

“I really want to be 100% for Tour de France. And want to try to win Tour de France within three years,” she said.

“We are building something very strong together as a team.”

The men’s Paris-Roubaix race takes place on Sunday.