"I was not planned for Flanders and Roubaix" - Pauline Ferrand-Prévot turned 2025 season around completely with Paris-Roubaix Femmes victory

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot spent over half a decade away from road cycling in it's majority and now within a few months of a full-time return to the discipline, she has been able to achieve greatness. After podiums at the Strade Bianche Donne and Tour of Flanders, she is now the first French winner of the Paris-Roubaix Femmes.

"It was so hard. I just fight to survive in the cobblestones sections. I had a crash at Mons-en-Pévéle so I had to chase but Marianne [Vos] was in front so it was kind of a good situation. When we come back I just tried to attack and after that I had a gap and I ust tried to go full-gas until the end," she described in a post-race interview.

The veteran attacked with 25 kilometers to go and to her surprise, she was able to drop all her rivals and never again be seen until the riders reached the velodrome. It was a performance of a lifetime on the cobbles which saw her comfortably be received by the home crowd in the ancient velodrome where she will now have her name.

And this was not even supposed to happen, as she had doubts as recently as this morning as to whether she would race orr not. "I was sick the last two days so I wasn't sure this morning if I was going to participate in Paris-Roubaix. But we said I just go and I will do my best for Marianne, but yeah it's good that finally I took the start and winning is just amazing. My boyfriend (Dylan van Baarle, ed.) won three years ago and now I won so we will have two stones which is quite cool".

The Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider has achieved a lot throughout her career, however not many races will reach the height of this Saturday's event: "To be honest at the moment I don't know because, I haven't realized, I just want to see my teammates and my team to thank them for the trust... Maybe tonight I can say it's my best win ever [...] I was confident we could do something very good, but after we need to have some luck and put everything together". 

The season is still young, but what she has already achieved is very significant, and confirms her return is on the right path. "For sure, doing third in Strade Bianche, after we took a second place at Sanremo with Marianne, then second in Flanders and now winning Roubaix... It's quite... I wasn't expecting this to be honest, I was not planned for Flanders and Roubaix but because I felt good I said 'why not, I want to try'".

However, she still wants to achieve more this season and has a clear eye on the Tour de France Femmes. "I want to get in position for the first stage of the Tour de France, because it will be quite hectic in Bretagne, so I wanted to take this racing as training".

"Tour de France is the main goal of the season, I want to be 100% for Tour de France and yeah I want to try to win the Tour de France within three years so I think we're taking a good step and we are building something very strong as a team and I just love my teammates I have the best time ever".