"Pauline is next level" – Armstrong and The Move podcast unpacks the 2025 Tour de France Femmes

As the dust settles on the 2025 Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift, The Move podcast team, Lance Armstrong, Mari Holden, and Alison Tetrick, reflected on a nine-day race that was both unpredictable and, in the end, utterly dominated by one rider. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot’s emphatic win, secured by a margin of three minutes and forty-two seconds over Demi Vollering, became the centrepiece of the discussion. Ferrand-Prevot became the first French person, man or women, to win the Tour since 1989, and has confirmed her status as one of the greatest ever al round cyclists. But the crew also took a deeper look at what the race revealed about the state of women’s cycling, the emotional arc of rising stars like Sarah Gigante, and what makes Ferrand-Prévot’s performance so significant.

“She was just so clearly dominant,” Armstrong said early in the episode, a sentiment that became a running thread. While the Tour featured numerous attacks and high-speed descents, Ferrand-Prévot always seemed one move ahead. The American noted that even in the opening stages, where her presence wasn’t immediately felt, she was always lurking, always calculating. “She was in control the whole time,” Armstrong said. “Not just... uphill, downhill, positioning in the peloton.”

The discussion emphasised the subtlety in Ferrand-Prévot’s approach. “Everyone was talking about Sarah, talking about Demi... and then she just came out and, you know, she did,” Holden said. The team never doubted Ferrand-Prévot’s preparation or intention, but her ability to let the race unfold around her before striking decisively was praised as a masterclass in racecraft. “Pauline is like literal next level,” Tetrick said, summing up the feeling that her victory wasn’t just dominant, it was something beyond.

But the team didn’t shy away from discussing moments where Ferrand-Prévot showed signs of stress, even on the last day. “She did say she felt a little pressure in the yellow jersey,” Tetrick noted. “She got gapped off in the beginning,” she continued, referencing a moment when two groups formed early on the final stage. Still, Ferrand-Prévot corrected course quickly: “Wait, what am I doing? I’m going to get at the front and then I’m going to win in yellow,” she told the media after the race. Even her brief lapses were met with immediate self-correction.

While Ferrand-Prévot soared, Sarah Gigante’s late-stage collapse became one of the more emotional storylines. Heading into the final stage in second overall, Gigante ended the day in sixth, losing her podium position due to difficulties descending off the Col de Joux Plane. “She goes from second in GC... down to sixth... because of descending,” Armstrong said. “This was brutal.”

Holden, Tetrick, and Armstrong all made a point to stress how fixable descending issues can be, though they acknowledged the psychological toll. “It’s learnable,” Armstrong said. “It’s not about gaining an advantage. It’s about minimizing your losses or eliminating your losses.” Tetrick, speaking from personal experience, added, “I was definitely not born with that fearless gene.” All three expressed concern over the online criticism Gigante faced: “She does not need some troll critiquing her descending,” Tetrick said.

What made Gigante’s struggle more painful to watch was how isolated she became on the road. “She was truly in no woman’s land,” Armstrong said. The physical gap was obvious, but the mental one, knowing the podium was slipping away without a mechanical, crash, or climb, was even harder. Armstrong called it “a hard game” that exposes both talent and vulnerability.

Beyond individual performances, the panel praised the evolution of the sport itself. “Four French women in the top 10. That’s huge,” Armstrong said. Tetrick called it “mind-blowing,” especially considering how recently French women were absent from the top tier of the sport. Ferrand-Prévot wasn’t the only French rider making waves, Juliette Labous drew admiration for her selfless ride in support of the GC battle. “She was like the bus of that breakaway group,” Tetrick said. “Domestique life,” she added with a mix of admiration and sympathy.

The group also touched on the broader implications of the race. “If you didn’t look at gender... this was a better sporting event [than the men’s],” Armstrong said. From a purely competitive standpoint, action-packed stages, late GC drama, and a commanding champion, the women’s race delivered. “We’re in such an exciting place,” Tetrick noted. “The more we watch women, the more women win.”

And then there’s the question of what’s next for Ferrand-Prévot. With her win in the Tour, her known prowess in mountain biking, and the looming world championships, the door is open for one of the most decorated and versatile seasons any rider could imagine. “Can you imagine winning worlds on the road, winning the Tour, and winning the Olympic gold medal all within 12 months?” Holden wondered. “I think she can imagine that actually.”

As the episode closed, the panel reflected on how much the women’s peloton has evolved in just a few years. From sponsorship growth to deeper fields and sharper race tactics, the shift is real. And thanks to athletes like Ferrand-Prévot and the continued support of sponsors like Zwift, the platform is only getting bigger. “It’s not just a movement anymore,” Tetrick said. “This is just reality.”