Throughout her first media engagement along with her new staff, Visma-Lease a Bike, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot has outlined her greatest objective on her return to the tarmac – to win the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
The 32-year-old Frenchwoman hasn’t raced on the highway since 2018, profitable 4 XCO world titles in addition to Olympic gold in Paris throughout her time away. Ferrand-Prévot has signed a three-year take care of Visma-Lease a Bike forward of the 2025 season.
“I signed right here for 3 years and I wish to convey out the very best model of myself, to see if I can attempt to win the Tour de France . That’s the major objective for these three seasons,” she informed Wielerflits and different assembled press in the course of the staff’s first low season camp.
“If I wasn’t satisfied that I may do it, I would not have taken this step,” she added.
The ladies’s WorldTour has moved an awfully good distance since Ferrand-Prévot raced La Course by Le Tour in July 2018, her final UCI occasion on the highway. Nonetheless, she is assured that she nonetheless has the flexibility required to compete on the very prime degree after a interval of re-familiarisation within the peloton.
The 2014 world champion determined to compete within the elite ladies’s highway race on the current Zürich world championships. She failed to complete, pulling out early on Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) stormed to her second consecutive rainbow jersey.
It was her first style of how the extent of competitors has developed throughout the previous few years. Though she struggled, Ferrand-Prévot will use the occasion as a measure of the place she must get to within the coming months.
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“The extent can be a lot greater. I rode the World Championships in Zurich, however I dropped out after two hours of racing. I noticed extra of that race on TV than I did myself. Instantly after the beginning, the throttle was large open,” Ferrand-Prévot mentioned.
“After an hour, I felt that my legs had fully exploded. It’s a fully completely different sport now.”
“I must work laborious and the competitors can be very sturdy. However once I take a look at my energy knowledge, I do know that I’m a great WorldTour rider. It’s a matter of time earlier than I can trip effectively in a peloton once more, examine the races and actually return to the highway,” she added.
Regardless of the present hole between her and the very best, Ferrand-Prévot believes she will be able to get to a degree the place she will be able to compete for the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift inside the subsequent three seasons.
With their expertise of propelling Jonas Vingegaard to 2 males’s Tour de France victories, Ferrand-Prévot thinks that Visma-Lease a Bike is the right match to get her in to Tour de France Femmes profitable form.
“I simply need to grasp all the main points to the very best of my capability. That’s why Visma – Lease a Bike is such a great match for me. They gained the Tour for males twice with Jonas Vingegaard. They know do it. All of it comes all the way down to me having to work laborious. However to go for a doable Tour victory, that’s what I do all these laborious coaching periods for.”
Ferrand-Prévot confirmed that the present plan is for her to participate within the 2025 Tour. She’s going to race the occasion as a take a look at to learn the way shut she is to the likes of Demi Vollering, who might be racing for her new staff FDJ-suez, and defending champion Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM).
She has already studied the route and is happy with what she’s seen.
“For me it’s good to take it step-by-step. First my return to the highway and discovering my optimum place on the common racing bike. Solely then will we work on bettering the time trial setup. Let me say that this course is sweet for me and makes the transition a bit simpler. The combination between quick slopes and longer climbs ought to swimsuit me effectively. I’m curious to see how far I can get and what I must work on to be the very best.”
“If I make the choice, I’ll trip the Tour.”
