Latest news with #PaulineFerrandPrévot
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
Ferrand-Prévot's Tour win ignites all of France in a joy missing from the men's race
It took a long time to find a copy of L'Équipe on Monday morning. France's flagship daily sports newspaper, emblazoned with an image of a yellow-clad Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, arms outstretched and triumphant, with the banner headline Geante, had almost sold out. Ferrand-Prévot, the first French rider to win the Tour de France Femmes, has become a national icon almost overnight. After her Paris 2024 gold medal performance in mountain biking and the Paris‑Roubaix win this spring, Ferrand-Prévot fever has taken over. Cycling's slumbering giant has finally awoken. As a little girl, Ferrand-Prévot asked her mother why it was that she couldn't race in the Tour de France. 'But it's a men's race,' came the response. 'I wish I was a boy,' the nine-year-old Pauline said. The French have waited a long time to see one of their own in the yellow jersey – 36 years in women's racing and 40 in men's – and endured decades of humiliation plus an ingrained sense of inferiority, usually to multiple foreign champions, some of them doped. During that time, there have been other misfiring women's tours of France, but none of them compare with the significance and scale of the modern Tour de France Femmes, which Christian Prudhomme, race director of the men's Tour and initially sceptical of the women's race, now sees as equal in stature. For archivists, the last French rider in yellow was Jeannie Longo, who won the Tour de France Féminin in 1989, although that race did not compare with the investment, difficulty and global importance of the modern Tour Femmes. Justifiably, Ferrand-Prévot has been depicted as the successor to Bernard Hinault, the last French winner of the men's Tour. The celebratory televised phone call from President Macron, within minutes of her victory in Châtel, is evidence of that. Ferrand-Prévot's Olympic gold came while she was sponsored by Ineos Grenadiers, but their reluctance to invest further in women's racing led to her off‑season move to the Visma Lease-a-bike team, and a vow to win the Tour within three years. Jim Ratcliffe's loss has become the Dutch sponsor's gain. For the French, this was equivalent to England men's long‑awaited home Ashes win in 2005, or Andy Murray's breakthrough British Wimbledon victory in 2013. The 33-year-old may well have uncorked fresh ambition within the host nation, and not just in women's racing. Compare Tadej Pogacar's muted celebrations after winning his fourth Tour de France a week ago in Paris with the party vibe in Châtel late on Sunday evening and the differences between the men's and women's Tour are far greater than just of gender. In stark contrast, there is an openness, joy and freedom of expression to the Tour de France Femmes that puts the monastic and secretive world of its occasionally lumbering male counterpart to shame. Ferrand-Prévot came to the Tour Femmes parchment thin, compared to the rider who powered to victory over the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix in April. The dramatic weight loss enhanced her power-to-weight ratio, but it doesn't look good and she has readily acknowledged it. 'I don't want to stay like this, because I know it's not 100% healthy,' she said on Sunday evening, 'but we also had a good plan with the nutritionist in the team and everything is in control. I didn't do anything extreme, and I still had power left after nine days of racing. It's a tricky subject, because you have to find the limit. I also know that I can't stay like this forever. It's the choice I made.' The already lean Demi Vollering, second overall in Châtel, an athlete who has openly talked about teenage mental health and menstrual cycles, also faced questions on whether she would now seek to lose weight to become more competitive. 'I could lose weight too, but I don't want to be extremely thin,' she said. 'I'm proud of my weight and want to set a good example. I hope that in the future I can win again and show girls that you don't have to be super skinny, but that you can also win with hard work and power. 'I know that many others struggle with this, so I hope that young girls don't think they have to be super skinny to ride in the mountains.' Kasia Niewiadoma, the outgoing champion, highlighted the fast-track development in ability within the women's peloton and said that her own level was 'definitely higher' than that of a year ago. 'This is the growth of women's cycling,' she said after finishing third. 'I think that the teams are stronger. You can see that a lot of teams have grown in depth – they have really strong riders who can help their leaders.' Of course, the Tour Femmes is not perfect. As the pressure to perform grows along with the rewards, it will inevitably develop some of the same ethical issues that confront men's racing. But, right now it is refreshing, joyous, dramatic and exciting, with a growing roster of accomplished athletes. 'Watch The Femmes' say the caps tossed to the crowds from the publicity caravan. 'We don't need the men any more to exist,' the race director Marion Rousse said earlier this summer after announcing the move to stand‑alone dates for the Femmes in 2026. Rousse is right. Maybe we have been watching the wrong race all along.
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot storms to stage success on way to Tour de France Femmes title
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot confirmed an exuberant overall win in the Tour de France Femmes in style, with her second mountain-stage win in Châtel Les Portes du Soleil. Amid euphoric scenes, Ferrand-Prévot, gold medallist at the Paris Olympics last year, followed up her lone win on the Col de la Madeleine on Saturday with another solo exploit in the Tour's final stage. Ferrand-Prévot is the first French rider to win the Tour de France Femmes, 36 years after her compatriot Jeannie Longo won the Tour de France Féminin, although that race did not compare with the scale, difficulty and global renown of the latest incarnation. Suddenly, after waiting 40 years for a successor to Bernard Hinault in the men's Tour, all France is now enamoured by women's cycling and with the 33-year-old from Reims, who was called within minutes of confirming her victory by the French president, Emmanuel Macron. Ferrand-Prévot's achievement, of winning the Tour de France and Paris-Roubaix in the same year, and both within 12 months of winning an Olympic gold medal for mountain biking, confirms her versatility and ambition. With the Olympic rings tattooed on her arm, she had reverted to road racing from mountain biking and stated that it was her ambition to win the Tour within three years. She did it in one. 'I think I put the bar really high this year in terms of preparing for this race,' she said. 'There have been a lot of sacrifices. Now I just want to enjoy the moment, because it might only happen once.' The writing was on the wall even on stage one, when she jumped clear of the peloton on the final climb of the Côte de Cadoudal in Plumelec, with a sharp acceleration. But she bided her time and has remained calm and contained throughout, even during the mid-race public spat between her team manager, Jos van Emden, and Demi Vollering's team manager, Stephen Delcourt. For seven of the nine stages she remained discreet, but when her moment came she was ready. If her first stage win, on the Madeleine on Saturday, confirmed the earlier impressions of her speed in Plumelec, her win in Châtel emphasised her dominance. 'I'd said to the sports directors this morning that if I could win in yellow then I'd try to,' she said. 'It all came down to how I felt on the last climb. I attacked but I didn't think I'd be able to keep going like that and win.' As the final stage began there were, initially, some nerves and Ferrand-Prévot was put under pressure almost immediately as she lost ground with the main peloton on the long descent from the start to Sallanches. 'I made a mistake on the first descent,' she said. 'I think I was just a bit scared with the pressure of the jersey, so afterwards I stayed close to the front and made an effort to stay there.' However, the race leader rejoined the main group on the approach to the first climb, the Cote d'Arâches-la-Frasse. Even before top of the first category climb a selection had been made with the favourites all moving ahead of the splintering bunch, in pursuit of the lone breakaway, Anna van der Breggen. The Dutch rider, 12th overall as the stage began, built up a near two-minute lead on the approach to the hardest climb of the stage, the Col de Joux‑Plane. Behind her the main peloton dwindled further after Cédrine Kerbaol, then fifth overall, crashed at the foot of the climb and was distanced quickly. The Joux-Plane's gradients reduced the lead group to just seven riders, including Ferrand‑Prévot, second-placed Sarah Gigante, the 2023 winner, Vollering, and the defending champion, Kasia Niewiadoma. Five kilometres from the top, Gigante accelerated, taking her rivals with her, but as on Saturday's climb, to the top of the Madeleine, the Australian was not able to open a gap. Instead, it was Vollering and Niewiadoma who combined on the fast descent to distance Gigante, in the hope of pushing her out of the Tour's top three. By the foot of the descent they had succeeded and she was never able to recover. Vollering, second overall, and Niewiadoma, who finished third, have shown remarkable consistency. They have appeared on the podium in every edition of the Tour de France Femmes since its inauguration in 2022. But this past week was all about the rebirth of French cycling. With the yellow jersey plus four stage wins out of nine days of racing, two for Ferrand-Prévot and two for the irrepressible Maëva Squiban, the hosts have dominated. There is, at long last, life after Hinault.
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot storms to stage success on way to Tour de France Femmes title
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot confirmed an exuberant overall win in the Tour de France Femmes in style, with her second mountain-stage win in Châtel Les Portes du Soleil. Amid euphoric scenes, Ferrand-Prévot, gold medallist at the Paris Olympics last year, followed up her lone win on the Col de la Madeleine on Saturday with another solo exploit in the Tour's final stage. Ferrand-Prévot becomes the first French rider to win the Tour de France Femmes, 36 years after her compatriot Jeannie Longo won the Tour de France Féminin, although that race did not compare with the scale, difficulty and global renown of the latest incarnation. Suddenly, after waiting 40 years for a successor to Bernard Hinault in the men's Tour, all France is now enamoured by women's cycling and with the 33-year-old from Reims, who was called within minutes of confirming her victory by the French president, Emmanuel Macron. Ferrand-Prévot's achievement, of winning the Tour de France and Paris-Roubaix in the same year, and both within 12 months of winning an Olympic gold medal for mountain biking, confirms her versatility and ambition. With the Olympic rings tattooed on her arm, she had reverted to road racing from mountain biking and stated that it was her ambition to win the Tour within three years. She did it in one. 'I think I put the bar really high this year in terms of preparing for this race,' she said. 'There have been a lot of sacrifices. Now I just want to enjoy the moment, because it might only happen once.' The writing was on the wall even on stage one, when she jumped clear of the peloton on the final climb of the Côte de Cadoudal in Plumelec, with a sharp acceleration. But she bided her time and has remained calm and contained throughout, even during the mid-race public spat between her team manager, Jos van Emden, and Demi Vollering's team manager, Stephen Delcourt. For seven of the nine stages she remained discreet, but when her moment came she was ready. If her first stage win, on the Madeleine on Saturday, confirmed the earlier impressions of her speed in Plumelec, her win in Châtel emphasised her dominance. 'I'd said to the sports directors this morning that if I could win in yellow then I'd try to,' she said. 'It all came down to how I felt on the last climb. I attacked but I didn't think I'd be able to keep going like that and win.' As the final stage began there were, initially, some nerves and Ferrand-Prévot was put under pressure almost immediately as she lost ground with the main peloton on the long descent from the start to Sallanches. 'I made a mistake on the first descent,' she said. 'I think I was just a bit scared with the pressure of the jersey, so afterwards I stayed close to the front and made an effort to stay there.' But the race leader rejoined the main group on the approach to the first climb, the Cote d'Arâches-la-Frasse. Even before top of the first category climb a selection had been made with the favourites all moving ahead of the splintering bunch, in pursuit of the lone breakaway, Anna van der Breggen. The Dutch rider, 12th overall as the stage began, built up a near two-minute lead on the approach to the hardest climb of the stage, the Col de Joux-Plane. Behind her the main peloton dwindled further after Cédrine Kerbaol, then fifth overall, crashed at the foot of the climb and was distanced quickly. The Joux-Plane's gradients reduced the lead group to just seven riders, including Ferrand-Prévot, second-placed Sarah Gigante, the 2023 winner, Vollering, and the defending champion, Kasia Niewiadoma. Five kilometres from the top, Gigante accelerated, taking her rivals with her, but as on Saturday's climb, to the top of the Madeleine, the Australian was not able to open a gap. Instead, it was Vollering and Niewiadoma who combined on the fast descent to distance Gigante, in the hope of pushing her out of the Tour's top three. By the foot of the descent they had succeeded and she was never able to recover. Vollering, second overall, and Niewiadoma, who finished third, have shown remarkable consistency. They have appeared on the podium in every edition of the Tour de France Femmes since its inauguration in 2022. But this past week was all about the rebirth of French cycling. With the yellow jersey plus four stage wins out of nine days of racing, two for Ferrand-Prévot and two for the irrepressible Maëva Squiban, the hosts have dominated. There is, at long last, life after Hinault.
CNN
6 days ago
- Sport
- CNN
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot wins Tour de France Femmes, becoming first French rider to win event since 1989
FacebookTweetLink Pauline Ferrand-Prévot won the Tour de France Femmes on Sunday, becoming the first French winner of cycling's biggest race since 1989. Not since Bernard Hinault last won the men's Tour de France in 1985 and Jeannie Longo won the women's edition in 1989 has a French cyclist taken home the yellow jersey, a long, long wait for a nation whose summers have been entwined with the race for more than a century. After retiring from a successful mountain bike career in which she became the Olympic champion in Paris, Ferrand-Prévot returned to the road this season with the explicit goal of winning the Tour de France Femmes within three years. In the end, she only needed one. She sealed her win with victory in the final stage of the race, crossing the line resplendent in the yellow jersey and overcome by the emotion of ending France's long wait for a home champion of its iconic race. In the general classification, she finished three minutes and 42 seconds ahead of 2023 winner Demi Vollering in second and four minutes and nine seconds ahead of defending champion Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney. Ferrand-Prévot rode into the yellow jersey on the penultimate stage, simply riding away from her rivals on the decisive climb of this year's race – the mighty, 18.6 km long Col de la Madeleine on Stage 8 – and crossed the line having gained more than three minutes on Niewiadoma-Phinney and Vollering. Instead of these former winners, Ferrand-Prévot's closest challenge that day came from Sarah Gigante who attacked early on the Col de la Madeleine. Gigante was caught and passed by the Frenchwoman but limited her losses to finish second, one minute and 45 seconds back. That ride left Ferrand-Prévot with a two-and-a-half minute lead over Gigante in the overall classification with just one stage left to race. Gigante was dropped on the final stage and lost her podium spot. But even with such a big lead, that last stage was not straightforward for Ferrand-Prévot. She fell behind her rivals on the valley roads before the first climb of the day, forcing her team to chase and protect her overall lead. But she recovered to launch a solo attack with six kilometers still to race and cross the line alone.
CNN
6 days ago
- Sport
- CNN
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot wins Tour de France Femmes, becoming first French rider to win event since 1989
FacebookTweetLink Pauline Ferrand-Prévot won the Tour de France Femmes on Sunday, becoming the first French winner of cycling's biggest race since 1989. Not since Bernard Hinault last won the men's Tour de France in 1985 and Jeannie Longo won the women's edition in 1989 has a French cyclist taken home the yellow jersey, a long, long wait for a nation whose summers have been entwined with the race for more than a century. After retiring from a successful mountain bike career in which she became the Olympic champion in Paris, Ferrand-Prévot returned to the road this season with the explicit goal of winning the Tour de France Femmes within three years. In the end, she only needed one. She sealed her win with victory in the final stage of the race, crossing the line resplendent in the yellow jersey and overcome by the emotion of ending France's long wait for a home champion of its iconic race. In the general classification, she finished three minutes and 42 seconds ahead of 2023 winner Demi Vollering in second and four minutes and nine seconds ahead of defending champion Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney. Ferrand-Prévot rode into the yellow jersey on the penultimate stage, simply riding away from her rivals on the decisive climb of this year's race – the mighty, 18.6 km long Col de la Madeleine on Stage 8 – and crossed the line having gained more than three minutes on Niewiadoma-Phinney and Vollering. Instead of these former winners, Ferrand-Prévot's closest challenge that day came from Sarah Gigante who attacked early on the Col de la Madeleine. Gigante was caught and passed by the Frenchwoman but limited her losses to finish second, one minute and 45 seconds back. That ride left Ferrand-Prévot with a two-and-a-half minute lead over Gigante in the overall classification with just one stage left to race. Gigante was dropped on the final stage and lost her podium spot. But even with such a big lead, that last stage was not straightforward for Ferrand-Prévot. She fell behind her rivals on the valley roads before the first climb of the day, forcing her team to chase and protect her overall lead. But she recovered to launch a solo attack with six kilometers still to race and cross the line alone.
