"Didn't we try to push the limits too far?" - French coach estimates Ferrand-Prévot might've been "too tired" from her Tour preparation
CyclingSunday, 09 August 2026 at 06:00
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot started the 2026 Tour de France Femmes as defending champion. However the dream of back-to-back titles was not met with reality when the Frenchwoman struggled to keep up with her rivals in key stages and ultimately abandoned ahead of stage 8 after Mont Ventoux did not bring the much-desired turn around.
It was not a shocking abandon
Her "did not start" has been confirmed confirmed by a statement from Team Visma | Lease a Bike the morning before race took off: "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!"
Throughout the first week of the race, Ferrand-Prévot continued to argue that her level was not as poor as it seemed, but Mont Ventoux exposed the gaps in her preparation when she lost over ten minutes to Kasia Niewiadoma whom she defeated by 3 minutes year earlier on another mountain giant; Le Madeleine.
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A guest on RMC's Intégrale Tour Paul Brousse, the coach of the French women's road cycling team, believes that the Olympic mountain bike champion was "a little tired" and did not have the weapons to fight with her rivals.
Ferrand-Prévot was not one bit fresh
The coach wonders as to what must've gone wrong behind the top team's closed doors for their star rider to arrive in such incompetitive state to the main race of her season.
"I'm not at all privy to the inner workings of the team, the coaching, or what goes on in training, but physically she seemed a bit like last year. You could see she was a very well-prepared athlete, she was in peak condition, but so were the others. However, we immediately saw that she seemed a bit tired, that she hadn't recovered enough."
In particular, Brousse suspects Visma might've actually allowed Ferrand-Prévot to push herself a bit too far in preparation. "In this final training cycle for the Tour de France, didn't we try to push the limits even higher than in previous years? Thinking, 'Our rivals have worked hard, we're going to push even harder.'"
"And then ultimately, the planning, the tapering period, the rest to reach 100% for the Tour wasn't enough. The impression I got was that she was a bit tired," he assesses.
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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- I assume Kasia is right b.c. she is more feminine.whkman09-08-2026
- "partner" ...drinkwhkman09-08-2026
- Clown statement from a CLOWN !frieders309-08-2026
- Was that Mouse next to him ? Trying to hold his hand?frieders309-08-2026
- A question: chasing back to Vollering’s wheel after being cut off doesn’t take any energy, does it? Of course it does. The complaint is very clearly that she was forced to chase and waste energy exactly in the way that let Vollering pull away. Given how she was positioned before the turn and after the turn, I see her anger. Also, racing is a team sport, and teams use all sorts of tricks to isolate riders. This is one of them. She has every right to be angry and lose respect for them, as well. Sometimes it’s appropriate to believe two things at once.RidesHills09-08-2026
- That is honestly adorable. Anyone who gives Vingegaard grief for focusing on his family should look at this and eat their words. What exactly is wrong with loving the people you love? Her caption, his delight, the way he runs with her, c’mon, it’s adorable and human and private but we get to see some of it and that’s cute.RidesHills09-08-2026
- you forgot the 😉Ketterechts09-08-2026
- yes. that could already be seen during the tour. he was unable to ride away from the likes of del toro, seixas, remco and lipo in the last stages he did ...Ketterechts09-08-2026
- I think there is something to what Kasia is saying because when Demi attacked, Kasia was SO far out of position. I was wondering how she let that happen. but if she had to stop pedaling, well, that would explain it. of course that doesn’t mean it was bad racing by FDJ. maybe Kasia should have been positioned better to start with. The easiest way to prevent an attack is to do what she did yesterday - start the attack.mij09-08-2026
- I lost respect of Kasia with this whining. IF she was cutoff, it was the least of her concerns as she had no energy to keep up regardless.onegear2908-08-2026
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