Interview Pauline Ferrand-Prévot: "Road cycling is a completely different sport"

Pauline, you are returning to road cycling at world level after around eight years. What goals do you have for your comeback on the road, for the 2025 season - and what role will cyclocross and mountain biking play in the future?

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (PFP): I won't be racing cyclocross and mountain bikes. I will concentrate 100 per cent on the road. The goal for next year is to learn as much as possible. My exact race calendar will be published on 14 January at the team presentation. But I will take part in the Tour de France - if I'm good enough and I'm nominated. I've signed a three-year contract and in those three years I really want to get the best out of myself and try to win the Tour de France. So that's the main goal.

What makes you confident enough to believe that you have the level to compete in the Tour with the racers who have regularly taken part in stage races in recent years?

PFP: 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 good road racer at world level.

Have you already familiarised yourself with the route of the Tour de France?

PFP: Of course, yes. It's a good parcours for me with a mixture of short and long climbs. To be honest, I was glad that there was no time trial stage. I want to do everything step by step. First I want to find the right position on the road bike, only then do I want to work more on the time trial set-up.

I haven't had enough of cycling yet - I still want to race

>> The route of the Tour de France Femmes 2025

Can you explain when and why you made the decision to return to road racing at the highest level after a long break and your Olympic victory on the mountain bike?

PFP: Last winter (2023/2024; editor's note) I asked myself what I would do after the Olympic Games. In order to perform, I had to know early on what would happen after the Olympic Games. I didn't want to ride my mountain bike until the next Olympic Games, compete in the same races, train the same way. But I still haven't had enough of cycling, I still want to race. It was a good moment for me to switch to road cycling, to start a new chapter in my career.

You were last under contract with the Ineos Grenadiers. Nothing came of the alleged plans to set up a women's team there. You were the only woman there in the small mountain bike squad with Tom Pidcock.

PFP: I changed teams because Ineos doesn't have a women's team at the moment. And I wanted a team that was prepared to give me their full support. I am 32 years old. I don't have many more years ahead of me. And I want to perform at a high level. I knew that Visma | Lease a Bike was a good team and that they were prepared to have me on the team. You've seen that they are capable of winning the Tour de France twice with Jonas (Vingegaard, in the men's race; editor's note). So they know how to do it. Now it's just a matter of putting in the hard work.

And how do you look back on your time at Ineos and the support you received there? Is there a certain disappointment that you still don't have a women's team there?

PFP: No, no, I'm not disappointed because I did what I had to do there. They supported me to win the gold medal at the Olympics - and we did it! I was at Ineos for two years and I met people I will always remember. But they weren't ready to start a women's team. I respect their decision. It's better not to do something if you're not 100 per cent committed to it.

How were your first few days in your new team Visma | Lease a Bike?

PFP: I am really happy. There's a good atmosphere. It's like 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 I like Dutch people. I used to spend five years at (Dutch; editor's note) Team Rabobank. I think it's been the best five years of my career. And it's also nice to be with Dylan.

Was your partner Dylan van Baarle, who rides for the Visma | Lease a Bike men's team, one of the reasons why you are now under contract here?

PFP: I've often had the question of whether Dylan was involved in my decision. It certainly helped that I saw him happy in this team, so I knew it was a good team. But he didn't make the decision for me, I made the final decision.

To what extent do you share your professional life in training and travelling together?

PFP: We've never actually trained together on the bike before. We did a bit of MTB riding together on holiday. But we don't want to do everything together. He needs his space, I need my space - and that's also because he rides fast. I don't want to slow down and I don't want to ride too fast for my abilities. We try to set off together - but then everyone does their own training.

To what extent does it influence you?

PFP: 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.

It is an honour for me to be a team colleague of Marianne Vos again and to work with her

You also meet a former companion in the team - the multiple world champion Marianne Vos. You rode with her in her former team Rabobank from 2012 to 2016.

PFP: 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. For me, it's an honour to be a team-mate of hers again and to work with her.

You had very successful years in 2014 and 2015 - you became road world champion, won a stage of the Giro d'Italia and the Fleche Wallonne. You switched to mountain biking in 2019. To what extent has women's cycling changed since then?

PFP: Everything is definitely different. The races are longer. In the past, you didn't really eat on the bike either. 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 compared to the past, cycling is much more teamwork. So it's not just about me, it's also about my team-mates and everything, how well we work together and what we can achieve together.

Road cycling is a completely different sport

A few weeks ago you rode your first international cycling race after a break of several years at the Road World Championships. How was the experience?

PFP: I didn't see much of the World Championships because I didn't even race for two hours. I experienced more of the World Championship on TV than in the race. It was fast right from the start, there were no easy moments. But it was still really good for me to drive the World Championship - even though I knew beforehand that I wasn't at 100 per cent. And I realised 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 - after an hour I could feel my legs going. I think it's a completely different level in both sports now. The World Championships were a good lesson for me. I just wasn't good enough. I have no excuse. The best in the world are there. You can't just turn up and be at the front. But it's also the reason why I was there - because I wanted to see for myself how I felt and what I could do better.

So far, you are the only female cyclist to have held the world 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?

PFP: 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 complete all three disciplines like this. If anyone can do it, it's Puck (Pieterse; the 22-year-old Dutchwoman has already been world champion on the mountain bike, runner-up in the cyclo-cross world championships, U23 world champion on the road and Tour stage winner; editor's note). - I hope she makes it.

About Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (France)

• Born 10/02/1992 in Reims
• Height: 1.65 metres; weight: 53 kilograms
• Pro teams (road): Rabobank/Rabobank-Liv (2012-2016), Canyon-SRAM (2017-2020), Visma-Lease a bike (2025-2027)
• Major successes: Olympic mountain bike champion (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 Fleche Wallonne (2014), stage win and overall runner-up Giro d'Italia (2014)