A series of mechanicals hampered Pauline Ferrand-Prévot's debut with Ineos Grenadiers at Koppenbergcross last month, but the multi-discipline World Champion will return with a full December cyclocross schedule that begins at Superprestige Boom on Saturday.
"It looks like I’m going to spend my December month riding my bike in Belgium, Ireland, Spain (training camp) and in Belgium again (love so much the Belgian fans ahah)," Ferrand-Prévot wrote on Instagram Thursday.
"[My] shape is good, but two months of hard training and racing will be good to be at my best for the World Championship. I hope to see you there. Thanks, Ineos Grenadiers, for the incredible support."
After competing at the Superprestige Boom on December 3, Ferrand-Prévot will start the World Cup Antwerpen on December 4, the new World Cup Dublin on December 11, World Cup Gavere on December 26, Superprestige Heusden-Zolder on December 27 and Superprestige Diegem on December 28.
Ferrand-Prévot signed a two-year contract with Ineos Grenadiers' growing off-road collective racing cyclocross, gravel, and mountain bike through to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, where she aims to win the gold medal in the cross-country event.
She currently holds four simultaneous world titles in the elite women's XCC mountain bike, XCO, XCM and gravel. A former World Champion in both road and cyclocross, Ferrand-Prévot hasn't raced in either discipline for several years.
Koppenbergcross marked her first cyclocross race in two years, but it was an unforgiving return marred by a series of mechanicals, and she eventually finished 12th. She also raced at the UEC Cyclo-cross European Championships in Namur, where she finished seventh.
Ferrand-Prévot has stated that her main goal this cyclocross season is to secure another world title at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships on February 4 in Hoogerheide. She has no illusions about how much work she needs to do to compete for victory.
“The World Championships is totally my goal. It’s also why I’m here. I wanted to judge myself and see what I had to do to be better. I came here to observe what I can do better," she said after the UEC Cyclo-cross European Championships.
