Tour de France Femmes defending champion, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, has abandoned the race with two stages remaining, her team revealed on Saturday morning.
In a social media post, Visma-Lease a Bike revealed the Frenchwoman had become ill overnight and would not start the race on medical advice.
"Unfortunately, Pauline was not feeling well this morning. In consultation with the medical staff, it has been decided that she will not start today. We wish Pauline a speedy recovery!" they wrote in a social media post.
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Ferrand-Prévot had started the race with high hopes of defending the yellow jersey she won in 2025, her first attempt at riding the Tour after returning to road racing after an extended spell racing mountain bike.
She has suffered from the start, however. Though she began last Wednesday's stage 4 time trial in 10th place overall, she shipped more than two minutes to stage winner Marlen Reusser (Movistar), before slipping further out of contention the next day, when she was dropped on the fierce slopes of Beaujolais, dropping to 17th place, five minutes behind the lead.
She lost 10.44 on stage winner Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) on Friday's queen stage to Friday to Mont Ventoux, and the writing was perhaps already on the wall.
Despite the time loss through the race's key stages, Ferrand-Prévot has insisted her physical form is where she had hoped, even claiming a personal power best while losing time to her yellow jersey rivals.
Having already been forced to restructure their race plan, Visma-Lease a Bike will now have to reassess how best they can claim a success from their week in France. Their chance might come on Saturday, where, despite two late climbs, a bunch sprint is possible, with Marianne Vos hoping to convert her two second places into a stage win.
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