Pauline Ferrand-Prévot admits ‘that is what I’m missing’ after another Tour de France Femmes setback

Visma | Lease a Bike began the Tour de France Femmes with major ambitions for defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, but the French team leader has so far been unable to live up to the high expectations. One day after losing significant time in the individual time trial, Ferrand-Prévot suffered another heavy setback, leaving her with a substantial deficit to Marlen Reusser and Demi Vollering.

Ferrand-Prévot had already shown two days earlier that she was not at her best, and she was also comprehensively beaten in the time trial. On stage five, however, things went seriously wrong. When the accelerations began on the penultimate climb, she was immediately unable to respond.

“To be honest, I felt quite good,” she said in her first reaction to Eurosport. “I was simply dropped on the steep section of the penultimate climb. I could no longer accelerate, but I did not feel bad. The others were just stronger today. I have to admit honestly that I was not good enough to follow them.”

Ferrand-Prévot did not want to draw a direct comparison with the time she lost in the race against the clock towards Dijon. “A time trial is obviously very different. For that, you mainly need a lot of power. Today, you needed to be able to climb well and have a little more explosiveness. That is what I’m missing at the moment. It is simply an honest assessment. I don’t want to fool myself.”

“What happens now?” will be the question facing Visma | Lease a Bike and Ferrand-Prévot. Immediately after the stage through the medium mountains, she was not yet able to provide an answer. “I have no idea what the time gap is yet, so I can’t say anything about that. But Mont Ventoux will be another new day and another battle, and we are going to give everything there.”

The stage to Mont Ventoux is scheduled for Friday. Ferrand-Prévot is now 17th in the general classification, five minutes behind race leader Reusser. The defending champion will therefore require a major turnaround on one of the Tour’s most decisive climbs if she is to revive her hopes in the final days.