Olympic mountain bike champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot will return to the street subsequent season within the colors of Visma-Lease a Bike. The Frenchwoman has signed a three-year contract with the Dutch group.
Ferrand-Prévot has centered on her off-road profession over the previous 5 seasons, however after claiming gold in Paris final week, she indicated her need to attempt to win the Tour de France Femmes. The 32-year-old has been sponsored by Ineos for the previous two years, however the British outfit has by no means established a ladies’s group.
“Last winter, I used to be fascinated about my future after the Olympics. I had been chasing an Olympic medal in mountain biking for 12 years. I’ve now achieved that purpose. I believe it is time for a brand new problem in biking,” Ferrand-Prévot mentioned in a press release on Wednesday.
“Choosing Team Visma-Lease a Bike Women was a straightforward resolution. The approach the group works and its skilled strategy actually attraction to me.”
Ferrand-Prévot started her skilled profession on a Dutch squad, spending 5 years with Rabobank, the place she was a teammate of Marianne Vos. She was a Rabobank rider when she grew to become world champion on the street in Ponferrada in 2014, having already received La Flèche Wallonne and positioned second general on the Giro Rosa that season.
After becoming a member of Canyon-SRAM in 2017, Ferrand-Prévot’s focus started to shift more and more in direction of her off-road endeavours, and he or she spent 2021 and 2022 with the Team Absolute Absalon BMC mountain bike group earlier than changing into an Ineos rider on the finish of 2022 for the build-up to the Paris 2024 Olympics.
After successful a number of world titles in mountain biking in addition to rainbow jerseys in cyclocross and gravel, Ferrand-Prévot is popping her consideration firmly again to the street, with the Tour de France Femmes on the forefront of her ambitions.
“Women’s biking has come a great distance since I left the game,” Ferrand-Prévot mentioned. “I am unable to wait to get again into the peloton. With the help of the group, I’m certain I can do nice issues once more, so I’m very motivated. I need to win the Tour de France Femmes.”
Ferrand-Prévot will be a part of a Visma-Lease a Bike roster that features Vos and two-time cyclocross world champion Fem van Empel.
“With her Olympic gold medal, she has now accomplished mountain biking. I like that she has taken the daring resolution to return to the street with a transparent goal: to win the Tour de France Femmes,” mentioned Visma ladies’s group supervisor Rutger Tijssen.
“We will give her time to turn out to be a street bicycle owner once more. She will probably be our group chief within the Grand Tours, however she may also be capable to compete within the Walloon classics.”
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