Ferrand-Prévot backtracks and will start World Championships in Rwanda
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot has changed her mind and will take the start at the Road World Championships in Rwanda. Just two weeks ago, the French star insisted she would not make the trip, but national coach Paul Brousse has now confirmed her place in the final squad.
The 32-year-old had been weighing up her calendar since winning the Tour de France Femmes in July. Soon after, she seemed to rule it out, explaining: “I also have to be smart and I need to enjoy this one. I don’t want to travel to Africa and I want to do the European Championship in France. So I will prepare for that and make the most of it.”
Despite that statement, Ferrand-Prévot will line up in Kigali on September 27, backed by a strong French team featuring Léa Curinier, Cédrine Kerbaol, Juliette Labous, Marie Le Net, Évita Muzic and Maëva Squiban. It gives her the chance to chase a second world road title, more than a decade after her first in Ponferrada in 2014.
Ferrand-Prévot’s palmarès already features a remarkable collection of rainbow jerseys. In addition to her 2014 road title, she has claimed six world championships in mountain biking, won the cyclocross world crown in 2015, and secured the inaugural women’s gravel world title in 2022.
A week after the Worlds she is set to compete in the European Championships on home soil, followed by the Gravel World Championships in South Limburg. With three major targets in as many weeks, Ferrand-Prévot will once again be at the heart of France’s championship ambitions.
In an interview with L’Équipe, Brousse explained how Ferrand-Prévot’s thinking about the Rwanda Worlds changed in the weeks since her Tour triumph.
“At the end of the Tour, the priority was already to recover, to get away from all the excitement, which caused a bit of mental fatigue,” he said. “I think we needed to take the time to readjust, to think about preparing for this World Championship, which has a few constraints, particularly in terms of the climate. It’s at altitude, there’s a lot of humidity, so it requires specific preparation.
“And in the end, the question was: ‘Am I still capable of making sacrifices, so to speak, to be 100% ready for the Worlds, or not?’ At first, I think there was a bit of physical and psychological fatigue, but then, given that she hasn't raced much this year either, she felt capable of giving her all again for the two end-of-season goals, the World Championships and the European Championships.”
Ferrand-Prévot will race the GP Plouay this weekend and is also likely to spend time at altitude either side of the Tour de l'Ardèche (September 9-14), which Brousse reckoned to be the ideal test ahead of the Worlds and European Championships.
“It will be two weeks before the World Championships, and almost all the world's best riders will be there,” he said. “Given the difficulties we will face at both the World Championships and the European Championships, it’s perfect timing.”
