It’s simple to neglect that Pauline Ferrand-Prévot solely returned to street racing a yr in the past, given the heights of her success and fast return to the higher echelons of the game, and it is going to be no totally different on Sunday as she strains up as one of the favourites for the Tour of Flanders.
Ferrand-Prévot already achieved her major purpose final yr, profitable the Tour de France Femmes, and certainly taking a shocking Paris-Roubaix Femmes victory in the spring too, however this yr she’s dreaming greater but, making Flanders one of her key targets forward of her Tour defence marketing campaign.
The Frenchwoman rode Flanders seven occasions – yearly – earlier than her street hiatus, however nobody fairly knew what to count on when she returned in 2025 after a seven-year absence. But as she would for the remainder of the season, she hit the bottom working, to say the least, ending second behind solely Lotte Kopecky from an elite late transfer.
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That in a short time proved to Ferrand-Prévot and her crew that Flanders was a greater than lifelike purpose for 2026, which was solely cemented by her subsequent successes in 2025.
Finishing second on her first try again did not go away Visma with too many query marks about how she will be able to convert that into a win, as she is clearly already practically there – the concept will largely be to race in a comparable means, simply hopefully one podium place higher.
Visma-Lease a Bike have flown just below the radar this spring, with Ferrand-Prévot and Vos racing solely sparingly, however the crew have nonetheless grabbed some optimistic outcomes with Noojen’s third at Dwars door Vlaanderen, and Nienke Veenhoven taking third at Ronde van Brugge.
Though Boven was optimistic about these outcomes, he did say that “without a real leader like Marianne or Pauline, it is hard for us to race with the level” and that “we need [Pauline], for sure”. Vos can also be set to be again in the crew after lacking Milan-San Remo due to household sickness.
Ferrand-Prévot has solely raced as soon as to this point this yr, at Strade Bianche, the place teammate Marianne Vos made it into the lead group. Ferrand-Prévot was half of the chase that took an unlucky fallacious flip, ending twenty ninth on the day.
However, she returned to her trusted altitude camp – underlining simply what a large purpose Flanders is for her – and has opted to return to the cobbles only for Flanders. She’s set to arrive on Thursday night, then journey a brief recon on Friday.
“She had a good preparation, after Strade she did a long time on altitude, so she is okay. But it’s different from last year, then it was a bit unexpected the second spot, also for us, and now the pressure will be a bit different this year,” Boven mentioned.
Coming again in only for Flanders is maybe unorthodox, given riders like Demi Vollering and Marlen Reusser have been additionally at angle and raced an opener at Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday
“When I was a bike rider, I liked to race a bit more and have the feeling of the peloton, but you see in modern cycling that’s different, and they jump in, and the big riders can still make nice results,” Boven mentioned.
“She showed that she can do it already many times, also on the mountain bike, so for that we don’t have doubts at all.”
The essential distinction, then, will simply be the expectations, as Ferrand-Prévot will begin on Sunday with all eyes on her, reasonably than as a barely unknown amount as she might need been final yr.
She has mentioned already this yr that she is aware of she wants to go into each race prepared to race like a favourite, and that appears to be the philosophy of her crew, too.
“I think what she says is correct,” Boven mentioned. “It’s also a bit different with the pressure and the approach to the race, but we’ll act with Pauline like we can win the race.”
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