Visma | Lease a Bike and Ferrand-Prévot pleased, but in Paris-Roubaix their hopes are on Marianne Vos

Ferrand-Prévot had just returned from altitude camp — together with her fiancé Dylan van Baarle — and was straight back in contention in Flanders. “I did my best, and so did the team, so I have no regrets at all,” the Frenchwoman said afterwards. “I just wasn’t quite strong enough to follow Demi Vollering, and I can be happy with what I achieved. I was at my limit and simply couldn’t go with her.”

“I felt pretty good, although maybe I’m still missing a bit of race rhythm and some power on the cobbles,” she added. Ferrand-Prévot had already seen her finale at Strade Bianche ruined earlier this spring by mechanical trouble, but this time she was firmly in the fight for the podium. “Whenever I really had to push power, that was okay. In that respect as well, there’s nothing for us to regret. We can be happy with second place and with the way we raced.”

After the Tour of Flanders, Ferrand-Prévot will now shift her attention toward the hillier Ardennes Classics. She expects those races to suit her particularly well after spending so much time at altitude on longer climbs. “I’ve been at altitude quite a lot, working on longer ascents,” she explained. “That makes me a little less explosive, but probably a bit better in terms of endurance. That’s why I’m really looking forward to the Ardennes — I think those races should go well for me.”

She also admitted she had not exactly missed the tension that comes with the cobbled Classics. Fighting for position before every climb and every cobbled section was something she had not done for a little while. “I had to stay calm, and it helped a lot that the team constantly kept me in a good position,” said Ferrand-Prévot. “It’s good that in my comeback race I was immediately racing near the front again. I’m really happy with that.”

Sports director Jan Boven was also broadly positive after the race. “I’m not surprised by her level, because we did the same thing with her last year,” he said. “The result was the same then, so of course we had actually hoped for a little bit more. But what I saw was that Demi was simply better than Pauline on the Kwaremont — she was just faster there. So we’re very happy with second place, which was the best possible result today.”

After Flanders comes Paris-Roubaix, the race Ferrand-Prévot won somewhat unexpectedly in 2025. Under normal circumstances, she would not necessarily be the rider expected to defend that title on her own. But because of the recent death of Marianne Vos’ father, a place may open up in the line-up or the leadership structure may need to be adjusted. “We have to see how Marianne is feeling,” Ferrand-Prévot said. “Right now, it is mainly just a very sad situation. We miss her, and we’ll make a decision on that later.”

Boven echoed that message and made clear that the team’s thoughts are first and foremost with Vos herself. “Marianne has had a very difficult week and on Saturday she said goodbye to her father in a very beautiful way,” he explained. “Now she is trying to pick up her normal rhythm again, as much as that is possible, and then we have to see how she responds to that. Marianne is our leader for Roubaix, but with everything that has happened, we need to make a plan for this week.”

Bram van der Ploeg ( X: @BvdPloegg | email : [email protected])