The day of glory has arrived for Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. The Frenchwoman finally adds a gold medal to her colossal list of achievements. On Sunday, July 28, “PFP” achieved a masterful performance in the cross-country mountain bike event. After the disappointments of 2016 and 2021, she finally becomes Olympic champion and brings France its second gold medal in these 2024 Olympic Games.
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From our special correspondent,
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot forever in the hearts. At each passage, the public who came to support her shouted her name. Focused as never before, the Frenchwoman very quickly isolated herself at the head of the cross country mountain bike race of the JO 2024forcing her main rival Puck Pieters to chase, with the noise of the helicopter in her ears. The Dutchwoman was finally ejected from the podium after a puncture.
Icon of women’s cycling
On this site, once littered with rubbish and transformed for the occasion into a mountain bike circuit, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot made the colours of France shine, she who had never known the exhilaration of a podium in three participations in the Olympic Games.
The other French chance of the day, Loana Lecomte, remained in third position until halfway through the race before going off the rails and leaving the race.
After a rainy day that was conducive to snails, the sun returned to the Paris Games and the hill of Élancourt, the site of the long-awaited coronation. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot’s curse at the Games has passed.
Icon of women’s cycling, 15-time world champion in multiple disciplines (road, cyclo-cross, gravel, etc.) sometimes at the same time, and especially in cross-country mountain biking where she has a record of five world titles, “PFP” has reached the long-awaited Grail at 32 years old.
The title he was missing
Having finished 26th in London in 2012, she dropped out four years later in Rio, before finishing only 10th in Tokyo. I tell myself that if I have to win them, I might as well win them at home. Apart from the Games, it’s true that I’ve more or less won everything. It’s really the title that I’m missing. “, she said recently. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot will have succeeded in this incredible challenge of being present on D-Day at home, despite the enormous pressure weighing on her shoulders.
With this Olympic title in her pocket, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot is ending her mountain bike career to return to the road with the 2025 Women’s Tour de France in mind. The champion is heading off on another adventure, with stars in her eyes.
To consultToday’s Olympic Games Events Schedule