Pauline Ferrand-Prévot victorious in Roubaix! Visma star completes comeback to the top of road racing
CyclingSaturday, 12 April 2025 at 16:52
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot is a rider that in the past has achieved a lot in road cycling, and for six years she put the road aside to focus on mountain biking and off-road racing. In 2025 she made her return with Team Visma | Lease a Bike, and it couldn't have been more glorious as she achieved the first French win at Paris-Roubaix Femmes.
Two riders, Aurela Nerlo and Quinty Ton have formed the day's breakaway and rode through a lot of the flat portion of the race by themselves in front before the action began in the peloton. This started early with over 70 kilometers to go as Ellen van Dijk made a solo move to try and anticipate the big attacks.
The Dutchwoman burned a lot of energy however with her solo attack, eventually linking up with the front group and eventually getting caught with 52 kilometers to go. In this section of the race the attacks were the fiercest, with Lotte Kopecky and Marianne Vos on the move and trying to create race-winning differences.
However with the lack of climbing and good cooperation, the front riders would never agree and form a coherent group. Lorena Wiebes, Chloé Dygert and former winner Alison Jackson were amongst the strongest following. Emma Norsgaard then moved off the front and created a big gap over the main group, only caught later by Pauline Ferrand-Prévot who attacked with 25 kilometers to go and then dropped her with 19. The Frenchwoman did not know at the time, but she was by far the strongest on the day in that phase and was on her way to build a gap of almost a minute which allowed her to ride into the Roubaix velodrome all by herself.
It was a glorious win for Ferrand-Prévot who at age 33 she added another very prestigious title to her palmarès. Letizia Borghesi surprised to finish second on the day, escaping the chasing group in the final kilometers; and Lorena Wiebes won the sprint for third place behind.
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4 Comments
Kopecky thought she could ride everyone off her wheel with her attacks! Guess Vos proved her otherwise! SD Worx has some internal team issues again !
Didn't like to see Kopecky and Wiebes attacking after a big crash in the leading group. Poetic justice in the end. Ferrand-Prevot hit the deck in that same crash.
And in Catalunya UAE also increased the pace at the front of the bunch when some of the favourites went down.
No bad karma in this case though.
Chapeau to Pauline Ferrand-Prevot on a very nice victory. She is a deceivingly powerful rider, and it was impressive how she slowly pulled away like she did, pushing quite a big gear. It was an entertaining race to watch, and a pleasant surprise in the end.
Now they have his and hers trophies at home ;-)
Could make great cycling kids too.
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