Pauline Ferrand-Prévot will no longer be the only Prévot family member in the professional peloton. As it seems, the Tour de France Femmes is truly magical and continues to attract talented cyclists from France to chase their dream on home roads. Such is the story also for Pauline's younger sister Axelle Dubau-Prévot who re-enters the road peloton with EF Education-Oatly after a seven year absence.
"At EF Education-Oatly, they think outside the box. It's the only team where I see myself, because I don't have a traditional cycling background. I want to be serious, but also maintain the joy and fun of racing," she explains in a team press release.
While Axelle's most outstanding road result is probably a 12th place at the under-23 European Championships 2018, the 29-year-old has become a prominent gravel cyclist with a French title, two European Championship top-10s, and an overall victory at the Nedbank Gravel Burn stage race in South Africa where we've seen Tom Pidcock join the men's competition at the end of October.
"We were also looking for a rider who is competitive on the gravel circuit, but who can also be an asset to our road team. Axelle fits the bill perfectly," team manager Elsa Tromp enthuses. "On the road, she's a bit of an all-rounder, and on gravel, she has the endurance for stage races and the speed for one-day races. Axelle doesn't have a typical cycling background, and I appreciate that. I think it gives her a healthy perspective on cycling and life, as she has sometimes chosen to step away from the sport. This maturity speaks volumes about her character."
To fulfill a dream
In Axelle's story, there are clear similarities to her older sister. Just like Pauline, Axelle gave up on road at one point, but eventually, the calls of Tour de France Femmes were too strong to resist. Of course, unlike Pauline, Axelle doesn't aim to win Tour by a long shot, but even just participating would be a dream come true, she indicates:
"When I heard a few years ago that the Tour de France was coming back, I was no longer active in the cycling world. I felt a bit sad that I would never be able to participate. I'm French, and when someone asks me what I do and I say I'm a cyclist, they immediately ask if I'm riding the Tour de France," she explains.
"That's the benchmark. Now that I've seen the race and see that EF Education-Oatly really wants to achieve something big in the Tour, I would love to be part of the Tour squad someday."
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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- On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And we, what are we doing?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And yet, it attracts people, even you. What’s more, it attracts the rival fanboys to fill cyberspace with endless pointless my hero is better than your hero blabla that’s all been heard before and only helps sell the site as an advertising platform. You know what the solution is but most can’t resist. No different than women who follow and discuss celebs through gossip magazines.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- he is doing 460 watts for 35 min to achieve 7 w/kg with VO2 at 96 , just unreal numbers.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just do it, and put up with the consequencesJumpyjohn08-11-2026
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- exactly, he had an amazing season, but with these overstatements they don‘t do him good.Ketterechts08-11-2026
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