Van Baarle explains Ferrand-Prévot’s Tour struggles, points to Team Sky and Jumbo-Visma

After the success of last year, things have been completely different this season for Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Visma | Lease a Bike at the Tour de France Femmes. The defending champion has been unable to reproduce the dominance that carried her to victory twelve months ago. Dylan van Baarle, the Frenchwoman’s fiancé, discussed her Tour during De Avondetappe. “She has done everything she could to perform as well as possible.”

Ferrand-Prévot has not been able to dominate the race in the way she did last year, but despite those setbacks she still appears remarkably relaxed. “She can’t blame herself for anything, so she is dealing with it in a very relaxed way. She has done everything she could to be as good as possible. I happened to be in Geneva last Sunday as well, and she was exactly the same there. She was signing autographs and taking pictures with everyone. So she came into this Tour very relaxed.”

Even on Mont Ventoux, Ferrand-Prévot was unable to seize what looked like her final opportunity to turn her Tour around. “At least she had the morale to go all-in. She wanted to ride her own pace on the climb. In the end, that’s exactly what she did, but unfortunately it just wasn’t quite fast enough.” Visma | Lease a Bike was left searching for answers after the decisive mountain stage, having spent months targeting the Ventoux with its French leader.

“In the end, the others have simply got better as well. If you want to compare it with men’s cycling, you saw the same thing with Team Sky or Jumbo-Visma back in the day. People start chasing you and trying to become better than you were the previous year,” Van Baarle explained, referring to the way Ferrand-Prévot’s rivals appear to have found an answer to the supremacy she showed in 2025.

“From what I understand, Pauline is just as good as she was last year,” he continued. “Maybe there is also a mental aspect when you see them slowly riding away from you, little by little. But she has basically done the same training camps as last year. It’s just that this year things aren’t falling her way.” Ferrand-Prévot had already suffered an important setback earlier in the race when she lost significant time in the individual time trial.

The contrast with last year is substantial. “Especially after the Olympic Games, her popularity suddenly increased enormously,” Van Baarle had already noticed in 2024. “When we went cycling together, I suddenly had to take pictures. I basically had to become the photographer for people who wanted a photo with her.” Ferrand-Prévot’s profile in France grew dramatically following her Olympic mountain-bike triumph before rising even further with her Tour de France Femmes success the following summer.

“It’s obviously quite special. What she has achieved, and the fact that she is so popular in a certain country. But last year after the Tour it was the same: whether we were in the supermarket or at a restaurant, people would look at her or ask for a photo. A lot changed during those weeks.” Van Baarle experienced that Tour success from close range, travelling to France for the final stage as Ferrand-Prévot completed her overall victory.