Pauline Ferrand-Prévot’s determination to retire from a glowing off-road profession, depart Ineos Grenadiers and return to street racing with Visma-Lease a Bike has been one of the vital talked about transfers of the yr.
The reigning mountain bike World and Olympic Champion has indicated {that a} driving power behind the choice is her want to win the Tour de France Femmes in the course of the subsequent chapter of her profession. The third version of the eight-stage race begins on Monday in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, the place Cyclingnews caught up with Ferrand-Prévot’s soon-to-be teammate Marianne Vos and Visma-Lease supervisor Rutger Tyssen to debate her prospects on the WorldTour.
“It is unbelievable to have her within the group once more. I have been racing together with her [in previous years], and it is fairly some time in the past. Initially, figuring out that she was coming again to street biking was already thrilling, however to be subsequent to her within the group shall be nice,” Vos stated on the Luxor Theater in Rotterdam on the eve of the occasion.
“She is a phenomenon within the sport, and it is an thrilling journey. It is one thing large that she is taking up. After successful the Olympic gold after which switching again to street biking once more, I feel we’re all wanting ahead to seeing what she’s going to do.”
Ferrand-Prévot and Vos had been beforehand teammates within the former Rabobank squad between 2012 and 2016. The French rider made historical past whereas there within the 2014-2015 season on the age of 23, when she turned the primary bicycle owner to carry world titles within the three disciplines concurrently. She gained the elite girls’s street race world title in 2014 Ponferrada, the XCO cross-country world title in 2015 in Vallnord, and the cyclo-cross world title in 2015 in Tabor.
Ferrand-Prévot then joined Canyon-SRAM from 2017 by the tip of 2020. Nevertheless, she hasn’t raced a full street season since 2018, outdoors of competing on the French Highway Championships in 2019 and 2021. Throughout that point, she twice underwent surgical procedure to deal with iliac artery endofibrosis.
After a profitable return to mountain biking, she later said that her precedence was successful the gold medal within the mountain bike cross-country occasion on the Paris Olympic Video games, which she achieved on July 28 at Élancourt Hill.
Now that the Video games is over, the eye of the biking world switches to the Tour de France Femmes, the race that from subsequent yr is more likely to be a focus of Ferrand-Prévot’s season.
Thus far Vos has been the motive force of outcomes on the French tour for her Visma-Lease a Bike squad. The Dutch rider, who has raced each the editions of the Tour de France Femmes thus far, got here out firing within the historical past making return of the ladies’s race in 2022, successful two levels, sporting the yellow jersey for 5 levels, and claiming the inexperienced jersey.
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Requested if she believes Ferrand-Prévot might win the yellow jersey sooner or later, Vos stated, “From mountain biking now, it is a large change, however she is aware of herself, and she or he is aware of what she is able to.
“After all, she has achieved nice issues in street racing previously, she isn’t new to this world. After all, we are going to see what it brings for her as properly.”
Vos congratulating Ferrand-Prevot once they had been teammates in 2014 (Picture credit score: Getty Photos)
‘She wants time’
Ferrand-Prévot – who will begin her three-year contract with Visma-Lease a Bike on January 1, 2025 – isn’t any stranger to stage racing and has skilled ample success on the Grand Tour stage. She completed second total, behind Vos, on the 2014 Giro d’Italia Girls and sixth total within the 2015 version.
Tyssen believes Ferrand-Prévot has what it takes to win a race just like the Tour de France Femmes, however she would wish time to regulate to the calls for of coaching particularly for stage races once more on the highest stage.
“Her transition from being a full-time mountain biker to being a full-time GC contender wants time. It undoubtedly wants time. I do not know whether or not it’s going to take one yr or two years or three years. We imagine that she will be able to make the transition into being a prime contender,” Tyssen stated.
“Her complete mentality and method to elite sport will convey one thing to the group. She is aware of precisely methods to peak and is aware of precisely what it takes to concentrate on one purpose. That’s one thing that she brings into the group, not as a tutor, however as a character.”
Ferrand-Prévot stated that selecting Visma-Lease a Bike was a straightforward determination due to how the group works and since its skilled method appealed to her. Tyssen stated he does not know if different WorldTour groups provided her a contract, however he believes Visma-Lease a Bike’s high-performance program gave them the sting over others.
“It wanted to be Pauline’s determination, and she or he undoubtedly selected this group for the efficiency surroundings that we created. It additionally amplifies that the ladies’s group is coming nearer and nearer to the boys’s group and the best way they method efficiency. She selected this group for that motive, not as a result of Marianne is on the group, however for the entire plan behind this programme. However she is happy to race with Marianne once more, too,” Tyssen stated.
“To be sincere, I all the time had the perspective that should you work with us, you might be welcome, however I am not going to do any bargaining or negotiating. You select our programme and we pay a good value, and that is what it’s.
“In the event you actually imagine that we are able to enhance your efficiency, then you might be in the suitable place. In case you have any doubts and select one other group for various causes, then I want you a superb profession some place else. I do not know if I needed to battle with different groups. I spoke with Pauline final December, offered her our plan, and she or he spoke to others and made her determination based mostly on the efficiency plan.”
Ferrand-Prévot will race with Visma-Lease a Bike by the tip of 2027 however it was too quickly for Tyssen to map out a racing schedule for her first season again on the street in 2025. He believes that she’s going to combine into the 15-rider group properly.
“She will be able to deal with it,” Tyssen stated. “She is aware of what she selected to do. She is aware of that she goes from extra of a person sport to extra of a group sport. She is conscious of it, and that’s precisely a part of the choice; she must be conscious that she has teammates who will maintain her, however she should maintain her teammates as properly.
“It goes each methods. If she takes care of her teammates, they’ll doubtless take two steps extra to assist her. We are going to see, however in case you have a plan, good construction, and everyone seems to be aligned with that plan, I do not see any drawback.”
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