During her first media engagement with her new team, Visma-Lease a Bike, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot has outlined her biggest goal on her return to the tarmac - to win the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
The 32-year-old Frenchwoman hasn’t raced on the road since 2018, winning four XCO world titles as well as Olympic gold in Paris during her time away. Ferrand-Prévot has signed a three-year deal with Visma-Lease a Bike ahead of the 2025 season.
“I signed here for three years and I want to bring out the best version of myself, to see if I can try to win the Tour de France . That is the main goal for those three seasons,” she told Wielerflits and other assembled press during the team’s first off-season camp.
"If I wasn't convinced that I could do it, I wouldn't have taken this step," she added.
The women’s WorldTour has moved an awfully long way since Ferrand-Prévot raced La Course by Le Tour in July 2018, her last UCI event on the road. However, she is confident that she still has the ability required to compete at the very top level after a period of re-familiarisation in the peloton.
The 2014 world champion decided to compete in the elite women’s road race at the recent Zürich world championships. She failed to finish, pulling out early on Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) stormed to her second consecutive rainbow jersey.
It was her first taste of how the level of competition has developed during the last few years. Although she struggled, Ferrand-Prévot will use the event as a measure of where she needs to get to in the coming months.
“The level is also much higher. I rode the World Championships in Zurich, but I dropped out after two hours of racing. I saw more of that race on TV than I did myself. Immediately after the start, the throttle was wide open,” Ferrand-Prévot said.
“After an hour, I felt that my legs had completely exploded. It is a completely different sport now.”
“I will have to work hard and the competition is also very strong. But when I look at my power data, I know that I am a good WorldTour rider. It is a matter of time before I can ride well in a peloton again, study the races and really return to the road,” she added.
Despite the current gap between her and the best, Ferrand-Prévot believes she can get to a level where she can compete for the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift within the next three seasons.
With their experience of propelling Jonas Vingegaard to two men’s Tour de France victories, Ferrand-Prévot thinks that Visma-Lease a Bike is the perfect fit to get her in to Tour de France Femmes winning shape.
“I just have to master all the details to the best of my ability. That’s why Visma - Lease a Bike is such a good fit for me. They won the Tour for men twice with Jonas Vingegaard. They know how to do it. It all comes down to me having to work hard. But to go for a possible Tour victory, that’s what I do all those hard training sessions for.”
Ferrand-Prévot confirmed that the current plan is for her to take part in the 2025 Tour. She will race the event as a test to find out how close she is to the likes of Demi Vollering, who will be racing for her new team FDJ-suez, and defending champion Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM).
She has already studied the route and is pleased with what she's seen.
“For me it is good to take it step by step. First my return to the road and finding my optimal position on the regular racing bike. Only then will we work on improving the time trial setup. Let me say that this course is good for me and makes the transition a bit easier. The mix between short slopes and longer climbs should suit me well. I am curious to see how far I can get and what I need to work on to be the best."
"If I make the selection, I will ride the Tour.”
