Doubt crept in before Ferrand-Prévot's incredible return on the road: 'Maybe I made the wrong choice'

How many riders can talk about a comeback as successful as the one Pauline Ferrand-Prévot pulled off this year? After ten years focused on the mountain bike and cyclo-cross, the French star returned to the WorldTour – and immediately won Paris-Roubaix and the Tour de France Femmes. It has been a surreal season for the Visma | Lease a Bike rider.

As a young girl, Ferrand-Prévot loved watching cycling and quickly knew what she wanted to become. "I was watching the Tour de France and I really wanted to be a boy," she told Rouleur. "When I told my mother that I would like to be a professional cyclist, she said ‘first you have to go to school’. Women’s cycling wasn’t as developed as it is now. It’s a different sport now, it’s much more professional."

Ferrand-Prévot is a multi-talent like no other. In 2014 she became world champion on the road, before going on to collect no fewer than nine world titles in mountain biking. In 2015 she pulled on the rainbow jersey in cyclo-cross, and in 2022 she also became world champion in gravel racing. In total: twelve world titles – and an Olympic gold medal on top of that.

"I really like cycling, it's my life," Ferrand-Prévot says. There are few people who enjoy being on the bike as much as the Visma | Lease a Bike rider, even if the racing itself is not exactly her favourite part. "I can’t say I really like racing but I like winning. Maybe it’s a bit pretentious to say this, but I race because I love to win.”

Last year, she announced that she would return to road racing with a contract at the so-called Killer Bees. That didn’t go smoothly at first, because in the ten years she had been away, the sport had taken huge steps forward. Women’s cycling had become almost unrecognisable. “I was thinking: ‘maybe I made the wrong choice'm because it was so fast!”

But after a short adjustment period, she was already on the podium in her fifth race day: third in Strade Bianche. A month later she finished second in the Tour of Flanders, and a week after that she added Paris-Roubaix to her palmarès. And that was only the start of the success. Even so, there were a few snags along the way, starting with how things would work alongside Marianne Vos.

The Dutch legend had been the rider in the yellow-and-black squad for years. For Ferrand-Prévot, it was also a matter of feeling things out at first. “I didn’t want to be in her way, and she didn’t want to be in my way,” she says. In the end, there was little to worry about. “We found a good way to work together at the Tour. We spent a lot of time together in camp. We really want to learn together.”

“I chose Visma because I need my freedom. I am 33 years old, I have stuff to learn but I have a lot of experience. It’s a young team with younger athletes. You really want to work together. It’s why we won as a team because we wanted to learn and win together.” The fact that her boyfriend – now fiancé – Dylan van Baarle rides for the team as well was another important factor in her decision.

Ferrand-Prévot has always been clear: she returned to the road to win the Tour de France Femmes. She managed that straight away, with a dominant overall victory. Her win at Paris-Roubaix, however, was a little less planned. “I was a bit bored, so I asked my team if I could do Paris-Roubaix!” Even a “bored” Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, as it turns out, is absolutely lethal.