This year marked the return to road racing for Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, and at the end of the season, the queen of French cycling reviewed her 2025 in an interview with Marca. Here are the main topics discussed by the Visma Lease a Bike champion.

A GREAT 2025. "Returning to road racing after a long time and winning first Paris-Roubaix and then the Tour de France Femmes was fantastic. Conquering the yellow jersey was the culmination of a childhood dream. Now, however, I'll need to focus on the next season to try to do even better".

THE VICTORY AT THE TOUR DE FRANCE FEMMES. "I'll repeat, it was a dream. Winning the last two stages was beautiful. On the last day, we had planned to control the situation, there was no need to win again, then Demi Vollering attacked, I had good feelings, so I told myself 'I have nothing to lose'. I pushed hard and... it worked. The Tour victory also left me a bit of a 'void' because you all know I had given myself three years to try to win it, succeeding on the first attempt raised a question in me: 'And now what do I do?' I thought about it for a while and now that question has an answer: I'm just thinking about winning it again".

THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TOUR AND OLYMPIC GAMES. "The two victories were incredibly beautiful but not comparable. The Tour is a stage race: there's more time to settle in, get into race rhythm, realize how many people support you and cheer for you. At the Olympic Games, I was focused and couldn't enjoy the atmosphere and the crowd's support. There's another fundamental difference: at the Tour de France Femmes, I wanted to win; at the Paris Olympic Games, I had to win".

THE ANKLE PROBLEM, THE SURGERY, AND RECOVERY. "It all started with the fall at Strade Bianche, from that moment the injury always gave me some concern because the wound wasn't healing. Sometimes, like before Paris-Roubaix, I experienced a lot of pain, while in other instances the discomfort was more manageable. I feared that injury might compromise my season because the infection returned multiple times and forced me to take three antibiotic cycles. Fortunately, during the Tour de France Femmes I had no problems, but afterward, with the accumulated fatigue, everything got complicated again, and after the World Championship in Rwanda, I felt bad again, and we decided it was better to operate, clean the area, and remove what was causing the pain. The recovery is a bit slower than expected: for now, I feel like an ordinary person, certainly not an athlete, but I'm not in a hurry, I'm enjoying this moment of relaxation after the season".

TOUR REPEAT AND LIÈGE, 2026 GOALS. "I would love to repeat the success at the Tour de France Femmes, but I'll also try to win other Monument Classics like Liège".

ROAD ONLY FOR NOW. "I believe it's no longer possible to combine fat wheels, cyclocross, and road. For now, I'm focusing only on the road".

NOT THINKING ABOUT RETIREMENT. "I love my job, I want to continue racing for at least the next two years. For now, I'm not thinking about becoming a mother or retiring, I simply want to win as much as possible and enjoy what I do".

TOO MUCH ATTENTION TO MY WEIGHT. "After the Tour, there was a lot of talk about my weight, too much! It seemed unfair that the topic emerged right after my victory: I was simply prepared in the best possible way. In endurance sports, it's important to be light, especially when facing climbs like the Madeleine. Be careful, though, weight is just one factor; you also need to train, recover, and do everything right. Anyway, my weight is now back to normal! In women's cycling, the topic is widely debated, rightly so, because we must take care of our bodies, but it seemed unfair that the issue emerged right after my victory".