Pauline Ferrand-Prevot conquers Paris-Roubaix Femmes on comeback, Visma-Lease A Bike star takes first victory on road since 2015
Updated 12/04/2025 at 18:19 GMT+1
Aided by re-inflating tyres, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot delivered a superb comeback victory at Paris-Roubaix – her first victory on the road since 2015. Of course, Paris-Roubaix is no ordinary road race, with the uncomfortable cobbled terrain suiting the Olympic mountain bike champion to a tee. Ultimately, it was a comfortable victory for the Frenchwoman as Letizia Borghesi took a magnificent second.
Ferrand-Prevot makes history with Paris-Roubaix triumph – ‘What a comeback!’
Video credit: TNT Sports
A perfectly-timed attack and a powerful solo effort saw Pauline Ferrand-Prevot seal a stunning victory at the fifth edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes, to become the first French woman to win the race.
Despite crashing just over 50 kilometres from the finish, the Visma-Lease A Bike rider was able to make her way back to the peloton, before launching an attack with 25 kilometres to go.
From there, she handled the cobbles with composure, riding solo into the Roubaix velodrome to delight the home crowd, just six days after taking second place at the Tour of Flanders, to mark the first victory on what has already been a blazing comeback trail for the veteran off-road specialist.
All the more remarkable is that the race wasn’t even meant to be on the schedule of the Olympic mountain-bike champion; moreover, she had planned to ride it ‘as training.’
The day began with a breakaway of just two riders – Aurela Nerlo (Winspace Orangeseal) and Quinty Ton (Liv-AlUla-Jayco), but as the cobbled sectors began, the race opened up.
Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek) was the first rider to attack from the bunch, and she bridged across to the duo before passing them to lead the race solo.
The fracturing bunch bore down behind, rapidly reducing in numbers with each subsequent pavé sector, as mechanicals took several riders out of the race, and the brisk pace and crosswind sections saw many more lose touch.
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Ferrand-Prevot targets Tour de France in three years after successful road return at Paris-Roubaix
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It was on sector 12 where the race was turned on its head. A crash at the entrance to the sector brought down a number of riders – Ferrand-Prevot included.
As the Frenchwoman was hurriedly remounting her bike, up at the front of the group, race favourite Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx-ProTime) launched an attack, taking teammate Lorena Wiebes with her.
The pair bridged to Van Dijk who was able to stay with them, and thankfully for Ferrand-Prevot, her teammate Marianne Vos was able to bridge to the trio, to form a powerful leading group of four.
This later swelled to eight, ahead of the five-star rated Mons-en-Pévèle sector. Kopecky attacked twice on the decisive cobbled sector, and each time, Vos was equal to her.
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By the time they were back on the road, the two were alone, and it could have been game over for the rest, but Chloe Dygert (Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto) mounted a stubborn chase effort to drag herself back into contention, bringing others including Wiebes along with her, giving the numerical advantage to SD Worx once again.
Lidl-Trek led the chase behind and with around 35 kilometres remaining, they finally reeled the leaders back, and the race opened up once more, with several attacks coming from the newly-formed lead group – mostly from an animated EF team.
The one that stuck for a time though, was the attack of Emma Norsgaard (Lidl-Trek). The Dane was able to move away from the group, and she led solo, as behind, Kopecky tried to police any further attacks from the chase group.
When Ferrand-Prevot attacked with 25 kilometres remaining, however, Kopecky missed the move, either unable to chase it down, or electing not to.
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The secret weapon giving Visma-Lease a Bike riders ‘huge advantage’ at Paris-Roubaix
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It turned out to be the race-winning move. Closing down Norsgaard and eventually moving clear into the solo lead, the Frenchwoman looked confident and assured after that.
Behind her, the group failed to mount a convincing or coordinated chase, and eventually it became clear that collectively, the group did not have the legs, or the will, to close her down.
In the end she rode into the velodrome a minute ahead of the chasers to soak up the adoration of the home faithful, enjoying her victory lap as she capped a fantastic spring classics season with a truly memorable victory.
After her came Letizia Borghesi, who launched a late move in the velodrome to find her way to the best performance of her career, finishing in second, as the sprint for the final podium position behind saw Wiebes pip Vos into third.
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