TOUR: Pauline, you are returning to road cycling at world level after many years as a mountain biker. Why was this the right time to switch disciplines again?
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot: In the winter before the Olympic Games (2023/2024; editor's note), I asked myself what I would like to do after the Games. It was simply important for me to know early on what would happen afterwards. I didn't see a future for myself in mountain biking - regardless of the result in Paris. I didn't want to ride the same races and see the same people. I needed a change. On the other hand, I wasn't done with cycling yet. I told myself that the best thing for me would be to return to the road for a few more years.
I want to try to win the Tour de France in the next three years. - Pauline Ferrand-Prévot
TOUR: What role did it play in the decision to create the Tour de France Femmes?
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot: I would have returned to the road either way. But the Tour de France made the whole thing more tangible for me. I'm someone who needs a goal. I signed a three-year contract with Visma | Lease a Bike. In these three years I really want to get the best out of myself and try to win the Tour de France.
TOUR: What makes you so confident that you have or can reach the necessary level?
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot: Firstly, because I have chosen a good team in Visma | Lease a Bike. I know that I have to work hard and that I have strong competitors. But when I look at my performance data and everything around it, I know that I am also capable of being a world-class road rider. It's not about winning races either. I can't control whether the others are better than me. I just want to be the best version of myself. It certainly means a lot of work - physically, mentally, in terms of team tactics and aerodynamics.
TOUR: What are your specific goals for the coming season - is it just about the Tour?
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot: The goal for next year is to learn as much as possible. I see myself as a leader for the Tour de France, I want to start there in the best possible shape. On the way to the Tour, all the starts will be more or less training races. But it's not about results. I also want to help my team-mates in some races. They have to trust me so that we can form a strong team.
TOUR: You are due to race Milan-San Remo on 22 March, which is to be held again after a long break.
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot: I am happy that this race now exists. I live about 35 kilometres from San Remo, in the south of France, near Monaco. I've ridden Poggio and Cipressa quite often in training.
TOUR: Milan-San Remo has become a kind of downhill race from the Poggio for the men. Do you like this prospect - or does it scare you?
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot: I love it. Thanks to my mountain bike experience, I'm not afraid. It would certainly be a good test for me if I could try something on the downhill.
TOUR: Speaking of mountain bike experience: What role will cyclocross and mountain biking play in the future?
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot: I won't be racing cyclocross or mountain bikes. I will concentrate one hundred per cent on the road.
TOUR: Let's look back at part one of your cycling career on the road: you were very successful with Team Rabobank, the predecessor of Visma | Lease a Bike. What were the reasons why you hardly raced during your contract with the German team CANYON//SRAM and then left road cycling?
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot: I originally come from road cycling. I then rode for Rabobank. I loved this team, I was able to learn from the best like Marianne Vos and Annemiek van Vleuten. It was the best five years of my career.
TOUR: You were extremely successful - world champion on the road, in cyclocross and on the mountain bike. Then what suddenly happened?
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot: When Rabobank closed down, I switched to CANYON//SRAM. But I didn't like the team. I wasn't myself. That was one of the reasons why I left road cycling - I just wasn't happy with that environment. That was the moment when I decided to concentrate fully on mountain biking - also because I realised that it was difficult to do both disciplines at the same time. I also wanted to take the opportunity to fulfil my lifelong dream of winning the Olympics.
TOUR: You have a tattoo on the back of your neck with the text: Life is a joke. What is its background?
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot: At CANYON//SRAM I had problems with pain in my left leg. They did almost everything they could to find the cause. But at some point they said: Pauline, the problem is in your head! It later turned out to be a problem with the iliac artery. I then had surgery in 2019 and again in 2020. That was the reason I got this tattoo: Life is a joke. You shouldn't take everything too seriously. Then you just have to let the storm pass. The sun will shine again!
TOUR: Did you take a lot of things too seriously before?
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot: Yes, for sure. I have more experience and realised that although cycling is a big part of my life, it's not everything. I have a great family, a great partner, I feel very happy now. My life used to be cycling, eating, sleeping, cycling, eating, sleeping. There was nothing else in my life. I wanted to prove to people that I was the best. You put everything into it and it becomes difficult if something doesn't work out - then you're quickly disappointed. I developed myself and also worked with experts. It really helped me to accept who I am and to do what I want to do and what is good for me.
TOUR: How are your first experiences in the Visma | Lease a Bike team, to what extent is this the right environment for you?
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot: I am really happy. There's a good atmosphere, like in a big family, familiar and well organised. I know where I'm going here. You don't get promised things here that aren't kept. And it's also nice to be able to be with Dylan.
TOUR: Was your partner Dylan van Baarle, who rides for the men's team of Visma | Lease a Bike, one of the reasons why you are now under contract there?
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot: It certainly helped that I saw him happy in this team, so I knew it was a good team. But he didn't decide in my favour.
TOUR: To what extent do you share your professional life?
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot: We don't want to do everything together. He needs his space, I need my space. I also don't want to slow him down, but I don't want to drive too fast for my own liking either.
TOUR: How does he influence you?
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot: Dylan is a super professional. I think I'm already crazy about some things. But Dylan is even crazier, one of the most professional people I know. I can learn from him. That's cool.
TOUR: You also meet a former companion in the team - the multiple world champion Marianne Vos. You rode with her in the former Rabobank team from 2012 to 2016.
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot: I had my best year there - and that was mainly down to Marianne. She is an exceptional athlete. But also really very respectful, reserved. She gave advice, but she didn't stand in your way. It's an honour to work with her again.
Women's road cycling is different to when I left it. There is more teamwork. The races are longer, you have to eat during the race. - Pauline Ferrand-Prévot
TOUR: You had very successful years in 2014 and 2015 - you became road world champion, won a stage of the Giro d'Italia and the Flèche Wallonne. How has women's cycling changed during your absence?
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot: Everything is definitely different. The races are longer. In the past, you didn't really eat on the bike. I'm talking like I'm 60 years old now, but it's true. Now we can see that nutrition is super important - especially in the stage races it's a very important aspect. And in comparison, cycling is much more teamwork now.
TOUR: You've only ridden one international road race since mid-2018: at the World Championships in Zurich last autumn. Why don't you compare mountain biking and road cycling for us?
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot: At the World Championships, I experienced that it's a completely different sport on the road. Mountain biking means one and a half hours at full throttle. But you don't really pedal on the descents. At the World Championships on the road, I felt like I had to pedal all the time. I think it's a completely different level in both sports now. The World Championships were a good lesson. I just wasn't good enough.
TOUR: Road cycling is much more about aerodynamics than mountain biking. You have this incredibly long hair. Don't you need to think about a shorter haircut?
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot: We need to work on some solutions. As a mountain biker, I also trained a lot on the road bike, but in a more upright riding position than I had on the mountain bike. Now I have a new position and sit more aerodynamically on the road bike. But we still have to find a solution for my hair ... (laughs)
TOUR: So far, you are the only female cyclist to have held the world championship titles in road racing, cyclocross and mountain biking at the same time - that was in 2015. Do you think that is still possible in modern women's cycling? And do you see a female cyclist who could repeat that?
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot: I would say I was pretty lucky that I managed to do it at a good time. In my opinion, it will be difficult to repeat that. Because now the standard is so high everywhere, the racing calendar is so packed. The year is simply too short to do all three disciplines properly. Maybe Puck (Pieterse; editor's note) could do it - I wouldn't put it past her.
TOUR: Last question: Your contract runs until 2027, what are your plans for the time after that?
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot: I think it will be the last three years of my cycling career. I've been very selfish my whole life. It would therefore be time to give something back to the people who are important to me. I never saw Dylan race. I never welcomed him at the end of the Tour de France on the Champs-Élysées - all the wives and girlfriends were there. But I couldn't be there the last two times because I was at an altitude training camp. And it's also a dream to have my own family.
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot: Personal details
- Born: 10/02/1992 in Reims
- Size: 1.65 metres
- Weight: 53 kilogrammes
- Road teams: Rabobank/Rabobank-Liv (2012-2016), CANYON//SRAM (2017-2020), Visma | Lease a Bike (2025-2027)
- Important successes: Olympic champion mountain bike (2024), world champion road (2014), world champion cyclocross (2015), world champion mountain bike cross-country (2015, 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023), world champion mountain bike marathon (2019 and 2022), world champion gravel (2022), winner Flèche Wallonne (2014), stage win and overall runner-up Giro d'Italia (2014)
Andreas Kublik
Editor
