Ferrand-Prévot to undergo surgery after breaking nose in Tokyo Olympic Games test event

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World champion travels back to France to consult specialist

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot has fractured her nose after a crash at the mountain bike test event for the Tokyo Olympic Games. The world champion has returned to France where she will undergo surgery to repair the break.

"Hard crash during the test event. Broken nose … tomorrow back to France to have a surgery," Ferrand-Prévot wrote in a post on Twitter.

Ferrand-Prévot has only recently returned to competition taking months off to recover from surgery to correct iliac artery endofibrosis in both legs in February. 

In an emotional comeback, she won the World Cup round in Val di Sole, Italy, and then won the UCI World Championships in Mont Saint-Anne, Canada.

She travelled to Tokyo last week to participate in the mountain bike test event that will be used for the Olympic Games next summer. However, she crashed ten minutes into the race through a rock garden. She was taken to hospital where X-rays confirmed that she had broken her nose.

"Some messages on social media are more difficult to write than others," she wrote on social media. 

“After ten minutes of racing I fell down hard on the first rock section due to someone else. The x-rays taken at the hospital show that my nose is broken. I will go to a specialist tomorrow as soon as I get home. Anyway, I didn't like my nose anyway. And wait a minute, I didn't even cry."

Kirsten Frattini
Kirsten Frattini
Editor

Kirsten Frattini has been the Editor of Cyclingnews since December 2025, overseeing editorial operations and output across the brand and delivering quality, engaging content.

She manages global budgets, racing & events, production scheduling, and contributor commissions, collaborating across content sections and teams in the UK, Europe, North America, and Australia to ensure audience and subscription growth across the brand.

Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.