The reign of Pauline Ferrand-Prévôt
When I got to know Pauline Ferrand-Prévôt she was World Champion in three cycling disciplines. In Cross Country, Cyclocross and on the Road. But she had a serious low. In the first race I saw with her she pulled out after some laps and stood at the sideline to cheer up her team mates. That was in 2016.
Last year she rode herself back to the top and became Cross Country World Champion in Mont-Sainte-Anne. This year she immediately started like a true world champion. In the two only wold cups of the year she showed her ambitions directly from the start line. In every race she was always at the front of the field. She controlled every move of her competitors. If someone tried to ride away she was there to go with her. Despite she didn’t won everything she looked very controlled the whole time. Her worst result in international races for this year is a third place in the first Cross Country race in Nove Mesto. Finally she won the second world cup there and it seems she also really found her rhythm in that race. Only one week later she became XC World Champion again in a really impressive way. She was leading the race from the start, she was always in first position. It seemed Pauline was just riding her own race, never looking back. She wouldn’t have seen anyone by doing that because in the end she won by a whopping margin of 3:01 to Eva Lechner who became second. That was a powerful ride from Pauline Ferrand-Prévôt. Before we only have seen such a dominant style of racing by a certain Nino Schurter in his best days a couple years ago. It is not very surprising that she also won the European Championships another week later.
I hope we will have a more or less normal Cross Country season in 2021, because I’m excited to see her on the top of her game in a normal XCO season. The only sad thing is that we won’t see anyone wearing the European Champion jersey because Pauline Ferrand-Prévôt can’t wear both at once.