Ferrand-Prevot bids to defend Tour de France Femmes title / Photo: JULIEN DE ROSA - AFP/File
Ferrand-Prevot bids to defend Tour de France Femmes title
Pauline Ferrand-Prevot begins the Tour de France Femmes this weekend determined to repeat last year's triumph, but the Frenchwoman faces a tough challenge in a field headed by in-form Dutch rival Demi Vollering.
Olympic mountain bike champion Ferrand-Prevot returned to road racing two years ago with the Tour as her primary target, and rewarded that decision by becoming the first home winner of the race since 1989.
She has carefully tailored her schedule around the Tour, finishing second at the Tour of Flanders and third at Paris-Roubaix before stepping away from competition after the Vuelta Femenina in May, where she finished 35th overall.
"My goal, since the beginning, is to be able to be 100% for the Tour de France, so I never really had in mind to win other races," Ferrand-Prevot told reporters in an online media conference this week.
"I know that I need a specific preparation to be able to win races, so I just pick my battle, and I choose the Tour de France as the battle.
"I'm not the kind of rider who can and who wants to perform all season long; I just want to have a big goal in the season and to commit to it."
Her Team Visma-Lease a Bike squad has been built around another bid for yellow and includes triple stage winner Marianne Vos.
However, Vollering is viewed as the pre-race favourite.
The Dutchwoman has enjoyed a stellar season, winning the Giro d'Italia as well as several marquee one-day races, and arrives with perhaps the strongest form in the women's peloton.
Swiss rider Marlen Reusser, Vuelta winner Paula Blasi and former Tour champion Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney are also expected to challenge, while veterans Elisa Longo Borghini and Anna van der Breggen cannot be ruled out.
The nine-stage race starts in the Swiss city of Lausanne on Saturday and finishes in Nice on August 9, with a route featuring nearly 19,000 metres of climbing, an individual time trial in Dijon and a potentially decisive summit finish on Mont Ventoux.
It is the first time the legendary climb features in the women's race. If that doesn't decide the battle for the yellow, it could come down to the demanding final stage around Nice.
"This is the toughest women's Tour so far," race director Marion Rousse said when the route was unveiled last October.
"We've made it a little harder because the peloton is stronger. It's a clever route - every stage has a potential trap."
M.Vega--ECdLR
