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"
Cycling
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."
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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.
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- for a medical chief to throw things like is just bad. There are already radios which were banned for spectacle. allow radios. Gps trackers are not a complete solutionabstractengineer07-11-2026
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