Ferrand-Prevot to lead France at Road World Championships

Canyon-SRAM’s Pauline Ferrand-Prévot will headline France’s six-rider squad in the women’s road race at the World Championships in Bergen later this month.

Ferrand-Prévot won the world title in 2014 in Ponferrada, beating Lisa Brennauer and Emma Johansson in a bunch sprint. She went on to win the cyclo-cross and mountain bike titles the following season but has endured a challenging couple of years since due to illness and injury.

The 25-year-old has recently found her stride again with a series of mountain bike victories and second place at the recent GP de Plouay on the road. She has ambitious end-of-season targets, with the World Championships in mountain bike and on the road both on her programme this September. She will head to Australia this week for the mountain bike Worlds and will return to Europe on September 11 to begin her preparation for the road race in Bergen two weeks later.

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"I will leave Australia the Monday after the race, and I still have almost two weeks to recover from the jet lag and the race. I think it is possible and now I have done some really good training at home to prepare for both races," Ferrand-Prévot told Cyclingnews in an interview last month.

"Also, the Worlds on the road are a while away. We are at the end of the season, so I don't need to train too much, I just need to be fresh. I think that in Bergen that it won't be the girl who trains the most that will win but the girl who is the smartest who is fresh from the season. I hope that I can play a part in the race."

Ferrand-Prévot will be joined by Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Wiggle-High5), Aude Biannic and Eugenie Duval (FDJ), Elise Delzenne (Lotto Soudal) and Juliette Labous (Sunweb). FDJ riders Charlotte Bravard, Severine Eraud and Roxane Fournier have been named as reserve riders. Reigning French time trial champion, Cordon-Ragot, will ride the individual time trial along with Eraud, while Labous is in reserve.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com