Pauline Ferrand-Prévot quits social media: “I feel much freer”

“We had Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and now we have Paul Seixas.” That was the line used by one of the French journalists to introduce the topic at the media moment with the Frenchwoman. “What do you think of Paul?”

“This is going to sound bad,” Ferrand-Prévot smiled in reply. “I haven’t watched TV or followed social media for so long that I don’t even know what’s going on. He was good in cyclo-cross as a junior a few years ago, right?”

With that, she left the journalist on the spot. “But honestly, I don’t really follow the news in general. So I can’t really give you an answer.” The French questioner tried again, asking whether she had advice for Seixas about riding the Tour. “I don’t know — that’s up to him.”

After explaining last winter that she changed her phone number to switch off for a while, she has now made it clear she has scaled things back online completely. “I had to find a balance, and this winter has been really good for that. I changed my number and spent a lot of time with my family, I could read books and have time for myself. I needed that going into the new season,” she said in January.

Why did she decide to reduce her phone use even further? “I don’t feel like it’s necessary to have social media. You end up seeing so many things that you don’t need to see — or even want to see — and you still take it all in. That can cost a lot of energy.”

“I don’t need to see what everyone else is doing, because it doesn’t matter to me that much,” she continued. “You spend so much time on social media, and that’s time I’d rather spend differently. Living in the present, instead of spending time on your phone. I understand it’s important for the team in terms of branding, but we’ll find a solution for that together.”

Ferrand-Prévot says she doesn’t miss it “at all”. “I feel much freer. I want to be consistent throughout the season and social media was mentally exhausting. I feel mentally much fresher now that I don’t have it. If I want to know something, I’ll ask. I don’t need to be sneaky.”