This does not ruin her battle plan, her chances of winning the Tour de France in 2027, but Pauline Ferrand-Prévot’s first stage in her return to road cycling came to an abrupt end, this Saturday, September 28, under the strong and freezing rains. of the World Cup in Zurich (Switzerland). The Olympic mountain bike champion abandoned the race fifty kilometers from the finish line, vomiting.
Her abandonment reflects a diminished French team, very far from the Belgian Lotte Kopecky, who won the sprint ahead of the American Chloe Dygert and the Italian Elisa Longo Borghini, thus retaining her title, in an atmosphere of mourning for the death of the young. The Swiss Muriel Furrer, who died on Thursday after a fall in the 17-18 year old competition.
“I ate a lot preparing for the end of the race and I didn’t digest well”explained, after the race, “PFP”, who competed on Saturday in his first international road race in six years. The current Team Ineos-Grenadier rider, future member of Team Visma-Lease a bike, wanted “proof” at the World Championships in Zurich without seeking any ambitions for results or a protected status. She had been careful to specify before departure: “I’m here to help the girls.”.
The French team, however, was left out of the match, occupying twelfth place with Juliette Labous, three minutes behind Lotte Kopecky. Forty kilometers from the finish line, the Frenchwoman accelerated without being able to catch up with her rivals. And when they made the right move, the former best young rider of the 2019 Tour of Italy couldn’t follow.
“The sensations subsided in the last lap, Those who would have preferred longer climbs, more in line with their climbing skills, regretted it. I was missing something to rock with the best. »
The ravages of the cold
But it was the entire French team that was overwhelmed, from the first part of the race. He had planned to launch the runners into the breakaways, so that they would serve as a support point for their leaders in the final. The opposite happened. The groups separated in front and we had to go behind.
The Blues have changed their plans. Scheduled for her movements at the end of the test, Cédrine Kerbaol had to work as a member of the team far from the finish line, with 90 kilometers to go. “Things didn’t go as planned.”recognized the Breton, who in August became the first Frenchwoman to win a stage of the Tour since the revival of the event in 2022.
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