Ferrand-Prévot enjoys Visma teammates’ progress and laughs off form concerns: ‘My best-ever 10-minute power output’

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot has continued to smile throughout this Tour de France Femmes, but the expression on her face after Thursday’s stage 6 was on another level. The French rider from Visma | Lease a Bike worked for her teammates and remained alongside the general-classification favourites, only one day after she had been dropped. That provides some encouragement ahead of the stage to Mont Ventoux on day seven.

Ferrand-Prévot has endured a disappointing Tour so far. Last year, she dominated the race from start to finish and claimed two stage victories, but during this edition she has appeared vulnerable almost every day. That did not result in any time losses during the opening three stages, but she eventually conceded several minutes in the stage four time trial and again during an extremely demanding climbing stage on day five.

The defending champion began stage six five minutes behind Movistar’s yellow-jersey holder Marlen Reusser, on a day when many expected her to lose even more time. Instead, Ferrand-Prévot showed improvement finishing with a select group of general-classification contenders shortly behind the breakaway riders who fought for the stage victory.

During the sixth stage, Ferrand-Prévot was neither dropped nor riding anonymously towards the back of the peloton. Instead, she became actively involved near the front of the race. When asked about that different style of racing, she responded with a laugh: “Oh, really? Did you see it? To be honest, it was full gas all day, which was nice because it made the time pass quickly.”

It was also no coincidence that Ferrand-Prévot appeared to be taking turns on the front for teammates who eventually made it into the leading groups. “I am so proud of them. They are developing so quickly, and they are constantly learning and improving. It is wonderful to see them racing at the front and genuinely becoming part of the race,” she said, referring in particular to Sarah Van Dam, who featured prominently in the finale and finished fourth.

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Ferrand-Prévot repeated the message she had also delivered following her disappointing results in stages four and five. “My level is quite good; the others are simply better. You have to be honest and realistic about that. My level is excellent. Yesterday, I produced my best-ever power output over ten minutes, but the level of the riders around me has simply increased enormously.”

“That makes it even nicer to see my teammates developing and showing that they genuinely want to learn.”