Crash at Strade Bianche proved not enough to stop Pauline Ferrand-Prévot's podium raid: "It was my own fault, so I wasn’t allowed to complain"

In her second race after she made her comeback to road, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot already landed herself on the podium. The Olympic MTB champion had quite eventful Strade Bianche Donne - a race that should be quite close to the Visma | Lease a Bike rider's heart with all the gravel sections.

"Demi and Anna were stronger on Le Tolfe, but maybe I gave too much in the breakaway," she told IDLProCycling.com. "I just thought it was better to have a lead on them because I didn’t know how the dynamics would play out. Despite everything, I felt good."

"The team did an amazing job keeping me at the front at all times." Yet it wasn't enough to keep Ferrand-Prévot on the bike throughout whole race: "I just crashed myself on the asphalt - that was my own stupid mistake. Did it hurt? To be honest, I told myself it was my own fault, so I wasn’t allowed to complain. Of course, it hurt, but I tried to stay focused on the race, otherwise, it would have been over anyway."

What does she take away from finishing third at Strade? "I’m on the right track because I don’t think I’m at top form yet," Ferrand-Prévot said about her legs compared to those of Vollering and Van der Breggen.

She regrets crashing, but not her attack from far out which seemed to be just a waste of energy to an outsider: "I have work to do and will need to sit on the wheel if I want to win. I also attacked because I had been in a medium zone for too long. That can make you feel drowsy, so you have to try something. It was a good choice, and I don’t think I necessarily wasted too much energy in the breakaway, but maybe I did with that crash."

Still, Fthe Frenchwoman received confirmation that she can compete with the best. Adding Strade Bianche Donne to her calendar proved to have been a good decision for her confidence. "I wanted to be good here because I’m technically strong on gravel. As a mountain biker, I knew everything, but for a race like this, I didn’t. That’s why I went on a reconnaissance ride with a teammate, where I rode the entire course."