Not Vollering but Ferrand-Prévot must now back up Visma’s bold Tour claims
CyclingWednesday, 05 August 2026 at 07:24
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Follow us on GooglePauline Ferrand-Prévot suffered a major setback in the
Stage 4 time trial at the Tour de France Femmes. The Frenchwoman lost more than two minutes to stage winner Marlen Reusser of Movistar, although she was not particularly disappointed afterwards — and neither was sports director Jos van Emden. That much was clear from Ferrand-Prévot’s own reaction. Perhaps that is because she knows her preferred terrain is still to come, just as Visma | Lease a Bike stressed before the Tour.
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Ferrand-Prévot began working on her time trialling in November 2025, when the Tour route was announced. Even so, she said before the Tour de France Femmes that she had been starting “from minus ten” at the end of last year. Her previous time trial dated back to 2015, and she had not ridden a time-trial bike since then, according to team manager Rutger Tijssen.
There was nevertheless confidence that she could produce a strong result because Ferrand-Prévot had approached the new discipline with her customary, almost obsessive attention to detail — an approach that so often produces results. This time, however, it did not. Ferrand-Prévot pointed in part to her previous surgery for a constricted iliac artery and explained that she was unable to adopt the most aerodynamic possible position on the bike.
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Pauline Ferrand-Prévot
Visma | Lease a Bike refused to compromise Ferrand-Prévot’s climbing strengths
When IDL spoke to Tijssen before the Tour about Ferrand-Prévot’s preparation, the Dutchman emphasised that an enormous amount of time had been invested in her time trialling. However, he also made the team’s main priority clear: “Ultimately, we have not forgotten what Pauline is good at, and that is where we spend most of our time. Those are the longer climbs.”
The explosive nature of the women’s peloton in 2026 was not overlooked either, although Ferrand-Prévot has already admitted that she struggled with the short uphill accelerations during a demanding third stage. We therefore know that the Frenchwoman has vulnerabilities, but her most important stages are still ahead of her. Stage 6 takes the race up Mont Ventoux, while stage 9 ends in Nice following another mountain stage.
“It is a different route from last year. A lot of attention is focused on Mont Ventoux, just as it was on the Col de la Madeleine last year. But this year it is less like a one-day race,” Tijssen said of this Tour. “We will have to make the right decisions every day so that, in the end, we are in a position to do what we are good at on Ventoux.”
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Ferrand-Prévot will have to make her move in the mountains following a disappointing time trial.
Visma | Lease a Bike knew — and still knows — the Tour competition is fierce
In addition to Ferrand-Prévot’s preparation and a route that is significantly different from the 2025 edition, the level of competition has also increased. Last year, most of the attention was directed towards Demi Vollering of FDJ United-SUEZ, but this year Marianne Vos believes “you could name about ten” potential contenders. “We know the competition, but we are focusing on ourselves. We want to perform as well as possible every day.”
“I mainly focus on myself, because that is necessary if I want to win the Tour and ride the best race possible,” Ferrand-Prévot said. “There are many strong women who can win, but I have no influence over what they do, so I focus on the things I can control. I am not going to drive myself crazy thinking about how good the others are. I simply want to produce the very best version of myself, supported by a strong team.”
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Demi Vollering
Visma | Lease a Bike must now back up its bold claims with Ferrand-Prévot
Following her setback in the time trial, Ferrand-Prévot is suddenly 2 minutes and 13 seconds behind yellow-jersey holder Reusser and 1 minute and 59 seconds behind Vollering. The Frenchwoman should be capable of catching many of her rivals once the road heads uphill, but can she also overcome such a large deficit to the two riders occupying first and second place in the general classification on Mont Ventoux and during the run towards Nice?
Tijssen used some bold language before the Tour, expressing considerable confidence in Ferrand-Prévot’s chances even on this particular route. In addition to the time trial, the Dutchman pointed towards stages 3 and 5 as opportunities to attack early in the race. “We hope they attack us, because then we will see a great race. Nobody will wait until the foot of Ventoux with Pauline still there.”
That statement has now become somewhat outdated. With an advantage of around two minutes, Vollering actually can afford to wait until Ventoux. The rest of the contenders will instead be looking towards Ferrand-Prévot during stage 5 and the stages that follow, expecting her to make up a substantial amount of time. “I hope they attack, also because it will only make Pauline stronger,” Tijssen said. “If you attack her, she will hit back.”
We will now find out just how strong Ferrand-Prévot is on her favoured terrain. “We learned from last year, and I think Pauline is even slightly stronger than she was at the 2025 Tour,” the team said several days before the start. Stage 5 had already been circled in red as an opportunity for attacks, and Visma will now be eager to take the initiative themselves. “We have to be there when it matters, just as we do in the final stage in Nice. We have more cards to play than simply Pauline on Ventoux.”
Bram van der PloegEditor-in-chief
Bram van der Ploeg (35) is the proud founder of In de Leiderstrui, IDL Pro Cycling's parent site, launched in 2018. Finally, he could create stories about the sport he had followed since childhood. He is the editor-in-chief on paper, but prefers to be with his recorder next to a rider, a team bus, or in the mud at a cyclocross race. Every year, from February to the end of May, Bram follows the entire Italian cycling season, from the Trofeo Laigueglia to the Giro d'Italia, with the grand finale in October in Lombardy. During that time, he lives in Tuscany, where he has since come to call Italy his 'home'.
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