This year's Tour de France champions, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Tadej Pogačar, may have won a week apart in opposite corners of France, but still had a chance to celebrate together, linking up for a ride in Monaco on Wednesday.
Tour de France Femmes winner Ferrand-Prévot posted a photo to Instagram of the pair smiling with their arms around each other, after she joined Pogačar and fellow Women's WorldTour pro Urška Zigart for her first ride post-Tour.
Both residents of Monaco, the pair shared part of their ride on the roads of the European principality.
"I had many reasons to smile this morning," Ferrand-Prévot wrote in her Instagram caption.
"Back on the bike, and shared a bit of my ride with this [sic] beautiful humans Urška Zigart and Tadej Pogačar."
Now a four-time winner, compared to Ferrand-Prévot, who only resumed road racing this year, Pogačar apparently shared some sage words with the Frenchwoman who joins the club of Tour winners.
"Listening to Tadej’s post-Tour advices was inspiring," Ferrand-Prévot said, before joking about posing for a photo with men's cycling's biggest star. "And of course, I had to ask for a picture #fangirlproblems."
Pogačar also reshared the photo to his Instagram story.
Though the first stage of the first edition of the Tour de France Femmes crossed over with the final stage of the men's race in Paris, the races have happened largely separately since then, with few official chances for the two winners to be celebrated together, often only coming together at the route presentation in Paris.
When his partner Zigart has been riding, Pogačar has been known to make visits to watch the women's race, but did not appear to do so this year.
A teammate of Jonas Vingegaard at Visma-Lease a Bike, where the men's and women's teams share many resources and expertise, Ferrand-Prévot has had plenty of Tour de France-winning levels of support in her lead-in to her victory on Sunday.
However, little could have prepared her for the level of 'PFPmania' gripping the French fans and media, with the celebration of her success surpassing the attention Pogačar's Tour wins garnered in France.
The comments of Ferrand-Prévot's Instagram post were full examples of the kind of praise she has been receiving and comparisons to Pogačar, with comments such as 'Le GOAT et la GOAT', and light-hearted jokes like 'It's so nice from Pauline to take some time with fans' and 'In this picture you can see a phenomenal Tour de France winner. And next to her Urška's boyfriend'.
Pogačar is also not the only male pro to celebrate Ferrand-Prévot's success, with a special feature in L'Équipe featuring messages of congratulations from riders including Chris Froome, Romain Bardet, Bernard Hinault and Richard Virenque.
"Once again, she has shown herself to be one of the most talented and versatile riders in the sport," Froome said.
"Her strength, determination, and class throughout the week are truly inspiring. This is an exceptional performance for French cycling and a great moment for women's cycling worldwide."
