Pauline Ferrand-Prévot is under no illusions about how much work she needs to do to compete for victory at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships on February 4 in Hoogerheide.
“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," Pauline Ferrand-Prévot said after finishing seventh at the UEC Cyclo-cross European Championships.
The French woman has had a brutal return to cyclo-cross, with mechanicals plaguing her ride at the Koppenbergcross in midweek, finishing 12th before placing seventh in the elite women's race at the European Championships in Namur on Saturday.
The 30-year-old, who won the cyclo-cross world title in 2015, finished two minutes and 26 seconds behind newly crowned European Champion Fem van Empel.
Van Empel, racing in her first-ever elite women's race at the European Championships, recovered from a second-lap puncture to take victory, powering past the French woman on the cobbled climb up to the Namur Citadel on her way back through the field.
It was Van Empel’s first elite cyclo-cross crown after deciding to move up from the under-23 category at the Championships event. Fellow youngster Blanka Kata Vas, aged 21, was also riding up an age category with the elites and finished third.
“I have to watch a replay to see as I didn’t see them today,” said Ferrand-Prévot after the race.
“It’s really good to have a new generation coming and it’s really good that we also have new faces. My last cyclo-cross World Championships was in 2017 which is a long time ago.
“I’m clearly not in the form to win, but I know now that I have to rest, and I have to try hard to be able to compete for the first position.”
Ferrand-Prévot has already won world titles in the mountain bike cross-country, short track and marathon categories this season along with the gravel world title she won last month.
She made her Ineos Grenadiers debut this week after signing a two-year deal to become the team’s first female rider in an off-road team.
She finished six minutes behind Van Empel after having to run up the Koppenberg on her nightmare debut and again saw the power of her rivals in Namur, where, fortunately, she wasn’t hit with the same mechanical problems.
“It was the beginning of my ‘cross season, so it is also a starting point,” Ferrand-Prévot explained the problems with her Shimano groupset of her new Pinarello Crossista F after a series of mechanicals at Koppenbergcross.
“I had my new bike and new everything for one week, so it wasn’t easy to find the good settings.”
Ferrand-Prévot said she was happy with her seventh-place finish in Namur as she begins preparations for February’s Cyclo-cross World Championships.
“I didn’t know what to expect; I’m quite happy,” she added.
“I just went full gas, and I was tired. Already this morning, I did a spin on the rollers, and I was feeling already tired.
“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.”
