Commentator convinced about Pauline Ferrand-Prévot's Tour bid after impressive Roubaix display: "God forbid what’s going to happen at the Tour de France"
Cycling
Absolutely mind-wobbling. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot crashed on one of the decisive cobbled sectors on her Hell of the North debut, but later caught up with the front and ultimately drove everyone off her wheel. Who would've thought that the French woman who aims for Tour de France Femmes title would go on to win the race considered a polar opposite of Grande Boucle - the Paris-Roubaix Femmes.
"What a display, absolutely magnificent," Matt Stephens said on TNT Sports' The Gruppetto with Rob Hatch. "It was a performance for the ages. God forbid what’s going to happen at the Tour de France if she continues this vein of form."
Stephens added already to have a home winner at Paris-Roubaix after nearly three decades is going to drive the crowds crazy: "The last French winner was [Frederic] Guesdon back in 1997 for the men, so France, as a cycling nation, needed something like this as well, so it was a special, special victory."
Questioned whether he thinks she can win the Tour de France, Stephens replied: "Yes, I do. I don’t know what her numbers were on the flat, but if she was outriding multiple riders behind, riding in a group on flat roads, and she's about 54kg, give or take, you’ve just got to transpose that over onto a climb. She is going to be hard to beat, I think, I really do."
Ferrand-Prevot, who rejoined the road peloton in 2025 following a decade away from the discipline, said after the race that winning the Tour de France Femmes remains her "main goal", the goal she declared before joining Team Visma | Lease a Bike ahead of the season. "I really want to be 100% for the Tour de France. And I want to try to win the Tour de France within three years," she said. "We are building something very strong together as a team."
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
claps 1visitors 1
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling for
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
Loading
Write a comment