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She’s simply turn out to be the Olympic champion after years of making an attempt however even a gold medal gained’t change Pauline Ferrand-Prévot’s thoughts about retiring from mountain bike racing.
Victorious in Paris on Sunday, the house victory marks the start of the tip for that space of her profession.
“I needed to organize for this Olympics, however in my head I additionally wanted to know what was taking place after,” the 32 12 months previous Frenchwoman instructed the media after her historic gold medal.
“I wanted to be free in my head and never be considering ‘ought to I proceed or not?’ So this winter I took the choice to cease MTB.”
Ferrand-Prévot has spent a lot of her profession racing throughout quite a few disciplines, taking world titles in street, cyclo-cross, gravel and mountainbike.
She was world street race champion in 2014 and in addition gained Flèche Wallonne the identical 12 months, however spent an growing period of time specializing in off-road competitors lately. That’s now going to alter.
“It doesn’t matter the results of right now,” she stated. “Successful or not, I’d have stopped anyway. As a result of I don’t see myself doing this once more, like coaching for the Olympics once more. It doesn’t make sense to me.
“I made a decision to give up MTB and can return to the street. It is going to be official, I believe, the second week of August, what crew I’ll be a part of. However we now have already a pleasant venture and I might be joyful to organize for the Tour de France and to attempt to win the Tour de France subsequent season.”
Vive la France!
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot has added a particular title to her assortment: OLYMPIC CHAMPION #Paris2024 #Biking #MountainBike pic.twitter.com/HAyN9XXz5A
— UCI MTB (@UCI_MTB) July 28, 2024
A Canyon-SRAM rider between 2017 and 2020, she was a part of Absolute-Absalon/BMC in 2021 and 2022, then was backed by Ineos Grenadiers the previous two seasons.
Successful Olympic gold was a serious venture after missed out on medals within the Video games in London, Rio and Tokyo. Her fourth try was profitable on Sunday, with the event of racing on house soil seeing her take the lead early on and to end effectively clear of the remainder of the sphere.
She stated that she was fully within the zone through the occasion, one thing which paid off in spades.
“I used to be working with a psychological coach since a number of months in the past. I used to be simply considering of myself and never in regards to the others,” she defined.
“I used to be simply doing my very own race, having my very own sample. I used to be like a robotic. I didn’t hear anybody on the course. I heard the nationwide coach, however even my dad and mom I didn’t actually hear them. I used to be simply on a mission.
“It was about going full fuel on the uphill and making an attempt to recuperate on the downhill. I simply centered on that, on doing my very own sample, my very own race. I didn’t actually care about what was taking place behind me.”
Ferrand-Prévot in the end completed 2:57 forward of the American Haley Batten, with the Swedish rider Jenny Rissveds an extra 5 seconds again in third.
It was a dominant win for the Frenchwoman, who was method above the extent of her rivals.
“I’ve labored so onerous for right now. And I needed to go full fuel… I felt wonderful right now. I can’t consider it!” she stated. “I assumed ‘it’s not attainable, it’s not attainable, it’s not me, it’s a dream.’ And I used to be simply so joyful to see my dad and mom after the end line.
“My coach stated yesterday, ‘Pauline has to take this race like a traditional race’. So I stated ‘okay, I’ll do as if I used to be in a UCI World Cup.’ I needed to remain within the wheels… after which push onerous and make them endure. I felt fairly sturdy and went my very own tempo.”
Attaining her large profession aim will take a while to sink in, however there isn’t any danger of her basking in that achievement for too lengthy.
The weeks forward will carry extra readability about with whom she might be racing in 2025 and with the Tour de France Femmes a clearly-defined goal, the proficient rider from Reims will apply the identical self-discipline and work ethic in the direction of additionally making that dream an attainable one.
L’picture du jour : la Marseillaise pour Pauline Ferrand-Prévot , extrêmement émue sur le podium
Suivez l’intégralité des Jeux de #Paris2024 sur Eurosport through Max #HomeOfTheOlympics pic.twitter.com/WxtKyVr9Qn
— Eurosport France (@Eurosport_FR) July 28, 2024