Pauline Ferrand-Prévot is considering a return to road racing following the Olympic Games held in Paris in 2024.
In an interview with her Ineos Grenadiers teammate Geraint Thomas as part of his podcast The Geraint Thomas Cycling Club [GTCC], the multi-discipline world champion also said that she one day hoped to compete at the Tour de France Femmes.
“I do miss it, especially now that we have a Tour de France for women,” Ferrand-Prévot said in the 54-minute podcast.
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“I would like to ride the Tour de France one day. Right now I'm very focused on the Paris Olympics, but why not get back to road racing next year, or the year after? I would like that.”
Ferrand-Prévot made history in the 2014-2015 season at the age of 23, when she became the first cyclist to simultaneously hold world titles in the three disciplines; winning the elite women's road race world title in 2014 Ponferrada, the XCO cross-country world title in 2015 in Vallnord, and the cyclo-cross world title in 2015 in Tabor.
Since then, she has amassed a total of 15 elite world championship titles across road, cyclocross, mountain bike; cross country, short track and team relay, and gravel racing. She is currently the reigning short-track and cross-country mountain bike world champion, having secured those titles at the 2023 UCI World Championships in Glasgow.
She was the first woman to sign for Ineos Grenadiers at the start of this season and is part of the team's growing off-road collective racing cyclo-cross, gravel, and mountain bike.
However, questions swirled at that time she announced signing with the team as to whether Ferrand-Prévot would entertain the idea of returning to road racing in the future.
She raced on the road for Rabobank from 2012 through 2016 before joining Canyon-SRAM from 2017 through the end of 2020. However, she hasn't raced a road season, outside of competing at the French Road Championships in 2019 and 2021, since 2018.
Ferrand-Prévot stated at that time that the mountain bike event at the Olympic Games in Paris was her main priority.
"My main goal will be to try to be Olympic Champion in Paris in 2024 because it is the only title I'm missing, so I really want that one," she said in an interview in 2022.
"Maybe I will come back to road racing, but not for right now, for sure. When I look at the Tour de France and all these big races, yeah, for sure, I maybe want to be a part of it, but later, and I just want to focus now on my dream. With the Olympics at home, I think I have a good chance."
Ferrand-Prévot reiterated her motivation toward securing a gold medal at the Olympic Games in her interview with Thomas, having missed out on the medals in the three previous Olympics.
“Since the Olympic Games in Tokyo, I have been really looking forward to this event in my home country. It is also the reason why I signed with Ineos Grenadiers," she said.
“I want to develop myself even further and become the best version of myself in the run-up to the Games. I am certainly focused and really cannot wait until July 28, 2024.
"I was always a big favourite in London, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, but it all became too much for me. I wasn't prepared for it, but I am now more aware of everything surrounding it. I can handle the pressure now."
