MTB Olympic champion Ferrand-Prevot: After gold in Paris - victory at the Tour de France?

Now it's time to put an end to mountain biking at the highest level - "It's time for new goals," the 32-year-old Olympic champion explained on the French sports website lequipe.fr. She had previously signed a contract with the Dutch racing team Visma | Lease a Bike for the next three years in order to compete as a road pro from 2025. Her goal: overall victory in the Tour de France. "I will try to win the Tour in the next few seasons," she told lequipe.fr, explaining her change of discipline.

After leaving the German team Canyon//SRAM at the end of 2020, she had recently taken a break from road cycling. "Women's road cycling has come a long way since I left it," she said in reference to her renewed change of discipline. The restart of the women's Tour de France, which became a reality in 2022, is a major new attraction and motivation for many female cyclists. When she last took part in the women's race organised by Tour organiser A.S.O. in 2018, it was still a one-day race under the name La Course by Le Tour.

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Visma/Lease a Bike: Leadership role for Pauline Ferrand-Prevot

"We will give her the time to become a successful road cyclist again," explained her future team manager Rutger Tijssen. Marianne Vos is currently the team's best-known rider. The 37-year-old Dutchwoman won silver in the road race in Paris after her Olympic victory in London 2012. Vos and Ferrand-Prevot were already team-mates at Rabobank from 2012 to 2016. In contrast to the men, where Jonas Vingegaard recently won the world's most important stage race twice, Visma | Lease a Bike has so far lacked a serious contender for the Tour victory among the women. "We want her to be the leader of our team for the big stage races," added Tijssen.

All titles on the mountain bike

For the past two years, Ferrand-Prevot has worn the jersey of the British team Ineos Grenadiers, which does not field a women's team. She plans to end her career as a professional mountain biker after the upcoming World Championships in Andorra. Ferrand-Prevot has achieved remarkable success on the mountain bike, including five world titles in cross country and two in short track. She also won the European Championships twice. Up until the Olympic Games in Paris, she had been working towards an Olympic victory, which she has now finally achieved.

Ferrand-Prevot: 1. World champion in three disciplines

In the past, Ferrand-Prevot has been the most versatile female cyclist for many years: in the history of cycling, she was the first to win the three world titles in cyclocross, road racing and mountain biking. No man has ever achieved this outstanding feat. In the meantime, however, the Frenchwoman from Champagne lost her enthusiasm for road cycling and repeatedly struggled with form and motivation problems.

It is unclear what role her current partner, Dylan van Baarle - runner-up in the 2021 World Championships and Roubaix winner - played in her move to the new team. Van Baarle is a member of the Visma/Lease a Bike men's team. But after her Olympic victory, Ferrand-Prevot emphasised on the short messaging service X how important the role of the Dutchman of the same age had played in providing mental support and training for the triumph in Paris.