How Pauline Ferrand-Prevot became the first French winner of the Tour de France Femmes

New York Times

2 days ago

Pauline Ferrand-Prevot is the first French winner of the Tour de France Femmes.
After 1,165 kilometres (over 700 miles), nine days of action, three yellow-jersey wearers and four stage winners, the most prestigious event on the women's road-racing calendar has drawn to a close.
The fourth edition of the modern Tour was predicted to be one for the history books — being the longest (both in terms of kilometres ridden and days raced) and highest (in vertical gain). And it certainly delivered.
Advertisement
Kim le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal) became the first African rider to win a stage, 23-year-old breakout star Maeva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ) became only the second Frenchwoman to win one (and did so twice) and 41-year-old Mavi Garcia (Liv AlUla Jayco) became the oldest stage winner in the event's history.
Ferrand-Prevot is also the first rider — men or women — to win the Tour and the spring's cobbled-road classic Paris-Roubaix in the same year.
Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) proved untouchable in the two sprint stages, winning both and taking the overall points classification's green jersey.
In the general classification, however, the first seven stages were close, meaning the overall race was anyone's for the taking, with the top five only separated by 35 seconds coming into the final weekend. It gave the race a sense of tension that the Tadej Pogacar-dominated men's edition that finished in Paris last Sunday did not.
Saturday's queen stage changed that, as Ferrand-Prevot unleashed a dominant display to mark the occasion of the Col de la Madeleine, a regular feature in the men's Tour, being part of the women's route for the first time.
This was the 33-year-old's first Tour de France, in her first season back in road racing since 2018, having switched to mountain biking. So, how did she do it?
The Athletic examines the key moments where the race was won.
It is impossible to look past the climb of the Col de la Madeleine on Saturday, which featured a punishing 8.1 per cent average gradient.
Ferrand-Prevot started the day second in the GC, 26 seconds behind Le Court. As effortless as her win yesterday looked from the outside, it was not straightforward.
The Team Visma Lease-A-Bike rider was caught out before the final climb by a split in the peloton with just under 30km to go, before bridging the gap with Le Court, Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal) and Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck). AG put in chunks to the favourites group with attacks and pulls from Justine Ghekiere and Gigante, until the latter was left with only Ferrand-Prevot for company.
PAULINE FERRAND-PRÉVOT EST SEULE DANS LA MADELEINE 🫨🇫🇷@FERRANDPREVOT IS ALONE ON LA MADELEINE 💥 #TDFF2025 l #WatchTheFemmes l @GoZwift pic.twitter.com/G9Kr9aVwNl
— Le Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (@LeTourFemmes) August 2, 2025
With 8.5km to go, the French rider made her move. She pulled away from the AG rider, closing the gap to the leaders by around 40 seconds in the space of 500 metres.
It did not take long from there for Ferrand-Prevot to reach Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) and Yara Kastelijn (Fenix), before eventually dropping them too to go solo for the final 5km. It was a huge show of both physical and mental strength on the toughest ascent of the race.
While the general classification was expected to be decided on the Col de la Madeleine, not many had singled out Ferrand-Prevot to come out on top among the favourites. Not many, apart from the rider herself.
'It's not for today,' Ferrand-Prevot said after the previous stage, when questioned about missing out on the yellow jersey. After Le Court was dropped on stage seven, there was a period where she was provisionally leading the GC.
Advertisement
'I'm not tired, I was in control today,' she said. 'For me, it's been a good day. I told myself, 'My race is tomorrow'. Today, it wasn't the goal to take the yellow jersey.'
It was another reminder that in elite sport, a race is often won before it starts.
In a nine-stage race with naturally limited opportunities for wins and places to take time — in her home country, no less — Ferrand-Prevot also showed impressive composure.
The 2025 women's Tour being its longest and toughest route yet made sure fatigue was a factor more than ever, with 30 withdrawals across the event. The gamble to wait to execute brilliantly on Saturday worked, as Ferrand-Prevot's legs on the day were unmatched.
Ferrand-Prevot led the GC by over two-and-a-half minutes heading into the final stage — a healthy gap, but not an insurmountable one. She was 2:37 ahead of Gigante and 3:18 ahead of 2023 Tour winner Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez), as the race headed to its finale in Alpine ski resort Chatel Les Portes du Soleil.
The peloton began aggressively, and Ferrand-Prevot completely lost contact with the large group of riders on the first descent of the day and needed her team to bring her back into contention.
'I was a bit too far back on the first downhill, and I think I was a bit scared with the pressure of this (yellow) jersey,' she said after the stage. 'My team-mates had to ride, and they did a massive effort to bring me back to the front.
'After that, I said, 'Now I have to stick to the front and try to stay there'.'
And she did.
Once the gap had been resolved, Ferrand-Prevot's time cushion allowed her to ride defensively for much of the stage. She covered attacks from Vollering without any issue as the yellow-jersey group eventually overtook Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx), who had been riding alone from the front until 33km to go.
Du rêve à la réalité 🫶🇫🇷From dream to reality 🫶👑#TDFF2025 l #WatchTheFemmes l @GoZwift pic.twitter.com/aMIfctS5EL
— Le Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (@LeTourFemmes) August 3, 2025
Finally, with the win all but secured, Ferrand-Prevot used a Vollering attack as a trigger to attack herself with 7km to go.
Nobody could go with her and a first-place finish in her debut Tour was secured.
For more cycling, follow Global Sports on The Athletic app via the Discover tab