Latest news with #Ferrand-Prevot
BBC News
12-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Ferrand-Prevot wins women's Paris-Roubaix race
Olympic mountain bike champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot has become the first Frenchwoman to win the Paris-Roubaix road Visma-Lease a Bike rider broke clear with about 15km of the 148.5km route remaining, and crossed the line in a time of three hours 40 minutes seven arrived in the Roubaix velodrome on her own to cheers from a partisan home crowd, finishing 58 seconds ahead of Italy's Letizia Borghesi, with Lorena Wiebes of the Netherlands just behind."It was a great day for us. I didn't expect this to be honest," said Ferrand-Prevot, 33, who won mountain bike cross-country gold at Paris 2024. "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 champion Lotte Kopecky of Belgium finished 12th, a place ahead of Great Britain's Pfeiffer Georgi, while compatriot Zoe Backstedt was 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.
The Independent
12-04-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
Pauline Ferrand-Prevot becomes first French winner of Paris-Roubaix Femmes with stunning solo ride
Pauline Ferrand-Prevot became the first French winner of Paris-Roubaix Femmes, soloing to a stunning victory on her debut at the 'Hell of the North'. The mountain bike Olympic champion, riding for Visma-Lease a Bike, attacked with 25km to go before bridging across to Lidl-Trek's Emma Norsgaard, dropping the Dane on the four-star Camphin-en-Pevele cobbled sector seven kilometres up the road. She quickly pulled out a minute's advantage on the chasing pack and had time to celebrate in front of a jubilant home crowd in the Roubaix velodrome, one of cycling's most iconic finish lines, as they cheered on the first French winner of the 'Queen of the Classics' since Frederic Guesdon in 1997. Victory in her first appearance at the gruelling cobbled race continued a brilliant start to the year for the veteran, who was third in the Tuscan race Strade Bianche and second in the Tour of Flanders last weekend behind world champion Lotte Kopecky. The 33-year-old only recently returned to road cycling after a long hiatus to prioritise off-road racing. 'They were riding really strong so I was confident the team could do something very good, but you still need to have some luck and to put everything together, so it was a great day for us,' the winner said. Asked about how well her return to road racing is going, she said, 'For sure, doing third in Strade Bianche and last weekend, second in Flanders, and now winning Roubaix - I didn't expect this, to be honest! Because I felt good I said why not, I want to try. I wanted to take this race as training [for the Tour de France ] so it's not too bad, I have to say! I really enjoy my comeback on the road and I'm really happy.' It is the biggest win of her road career since becoming world champion in 2014, and first at a Classic since Fleche-Wallonne in the same year. EF Education-Oatly youngster Letizia Borghesi produced the surprise of the day, dropping the small group of chasers in the closing kilometres and eking out a three-second advantage across one and a half laps of the velodrome to hold off Lorena Wiebes for third place. The SD Worx-Protime rider got the better of Ferrand-Prevot's teammate Marianne Vos in a tight sprint for the final spot on the podium. Wiebes' teammate and defending champion Lotte Kopecky was distanced in the latter stages of the race, rolling across the line two minutes and four seconds down having emptied the tank to help set up the team's sprinter. Norsgaard, who had attacked with 32km to go but fell back after she was dropped by Ferrand-Prevot, finished 14th.
