Pauline Ferrand-Prévot

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (born 10 February 1992) is a French multi-discipline bicycle racer, who rides for UCI Mountain Bike team in cross-country cycling. Ferrand-Prévot has also competed in road bicycle racing and cyclo-cross during her career, winning the world title in each discipline. During the 2015 season, aged just 23, she became the first person ever – in the history of cycling – to simultaneously hold the World road title, World cyclo-cross title and World cross-country mountain bike title.

Ferrand-Prévot is an elite world champion and national champion across the various disciplines in which she competes. She was the youngest competitor in the Women's road race at the 2012 Summer Olympics, in which she finished eighth.

2009–2010: Triple Junior World Champion
In July 2009, Ferrand-Prévot took part in the European Road Championships as a first year junior, where she narrowly won the Junior European time trial title ahead of Ukrainian Hanna Solovey. Four days later she placed third in the road race. Later in the same month, she won the junior European cross country championships, taking her second European title in less than 10 days in two different disciplines. She then participated in the World Junior Championships, winning silver in the time trial behind Hanna Solovey. In late August Ferrand-Prévot won both National Road titles in the junior category. In September, she won her first world title at the World cross country championship, whilst in October, she won the junior Chrono des Nations.

Ferrand-Prévot began her 2010 season competing in cyclo-cross. For women, there is no junior category which meant that she had to compete with the elite athletes. She came eighth in the World Cyclo-cross championships, more than two minutes behind future teammate Marianne Vos. After the cyclo-cross season, she was victorious at the City of Pujols road race, one of the constituent rounds of the Coupe de France, and would go on to top the final ranking in the Coupe de France for juniors. Further, she won a stage of the Circuit de Borsele junior, finishing fourth overall. She competed in the junior mountain bike World Cup, winning the Offenburg round and finished second in the Houffalize round. In mid-July, at the European Championships, Ferrand-Prévot had to settle for silver in both the time trial and road race. Ferrand-Prévot then competed in the junior World road race Championships in Offida, Italy finishing second in the time trial. She retained her junior national road titles. In September she defended successfully the junior Mountain bike world championships in MTB at Mont-Sainte-Anne in Canada, becoming the second rider after Nicole Cooke to hold both World Championship titles in the same year on the road and in mountain biking.

2011–2013: The first professional years
Ferrand-Prévot began the 2011 season with a second place in the national cyclo-cross championships. In late January, she took eighth in the World Championship cyclo-cross. She was then selected to participate in the Trofeo Alfredo Binda-Comune di Cittiglio for the French national road team, the first round of the 2011 UCI Women's Road World Cup achieving ninth place. After a fourth place in Halle-Buizingen, she finished seventh in the women's La Flèche Wallonne atop the Mur de Huy. In May, she went on to participate in two rounds of the UCI Under-23 MTB World Cup taking victory in both rounds. Ferrand-Prévot stated in mid-May that she would continue to ride in both disciplines for at least two more seasons. After a victory in the Coupe de France she participated in the two North American rounds of the Under-23 MTB World Cup winning both rounds again.

In July one year ahead of the London Olympics, she finished fifth in the pre-Olympic race. She then abandoned the MTB European championship. In August, after taking second place in the Val di Sole round of the Under-23 MTB World cup, she was crowned the overall winner. In November Ferrand-Prévot won the bronze medal at the European Cyclo-cross championships. In late November, announced they had signed her for the 2012 and 2013 seasons.

In April 2012, Ferrand-Prévot achieved her first podium in the MTB World Cup, during the second round in Houffalize. She was then selected for the Olympic Mountain bike test event. In June, at Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, she won her first elite national time trial championship, completing the 26.8 km loop in 36 minutes and 55 seconds, beating Audrey Cordon-Ragot by 17 seconds. She also won the Under-23 title. In July, she finished fourth in the elite national Mountain Bike championships but won the Under-23 title.

2014: The career year
Early in the season, Ferrand-Prévot won her first elite national cyclo-cross title. In late March, she finished fifth at the Trofeo Alfredo Binda-Comune di Cittiglio. In April she won the La Flèche Wallonne Féminine ahead of Lizzie Armitstead and Elisa Longo Borghini. In July, Ferrand-Prévot came second in the Giro Rosa just 15 seconds behind teammate Marianne Vos becoming the second French woman to reach the podium of the Giro Rosa after the Catherine Marsal victory in 1990. She later took the overall victory at the Emakumeen Euskal Bira, her first stage race win, while collecting two stage wins.

In July, Ferrand-Prévot became the first French cyclist to accumulate four national titles in a single season (road race, time trial, cyclo-cross and mountain bike). She also recorded two wins in the elite Mountain Bike World Cup and finally finished tenth overall in the Mountain Bike World Cup. After taking victory at the Under-23 European Cross-Country Championships, she won her first world title in the mixed relay.

Late in the road season, Ferrand-Prévot took part in the Grand Prix de Plouay, last round of the Road World Cup, taking 3rd place. She later finished sixth overall in the competition. In September, 19 years after Jeannie Longo won the fabled rainbow jersey, she became World Road Race champion in Ponferrada, Spain. Later in the season, she finished second in the Vélo d'or Français behind Jean-Christophe Péraud and ahead of track World Champion François Pervis. Ferrand-Prévot was also selected "international cyclist of the year" by the American publication VeloNews.

2015: World champion in cyclo-cross and cross-country
Ferrand-Prévot started the season off with retaining her national cyclo-cross championship. A week of ahead of the cyclo-cross world championships, she finished on the podium in the final race of the cyclo-cross World Cup in Hoogerheide. In January, she won the Cyclo-cross world title, ahead of Sanne Cant and seven-time champion Marianne Vos. She finished runner-up at the Trofeo Alfredo Binda-Comune di Cittiglio behind Lizzie Armitstead. In June, Ferrand-Prévot announced she had been suffering from sciatica which had ruined the start of her season. She returned to competition in the French national road race championships retaining her road title but only finishing third in the time trial. At the Giro Rosa, she finished ninth in the prologue but lost nearly two minutes on the leaders after the second stage. Winner of Stage 5 at Aprica, she finished 6th overall.

In August, Ferrand-Prévot started her mountain bike season with the goal of achieving a third world title in three different disciplines. She finished third in the Mont-Sainte-Anne round of World Cup and won the Windham round by more than a minute. On the road, she suffered a fall in the last kilometer of La Course by Le Tour de France as she did in 2014, but then went on to come third again at the Grand Prix de Plouay.

In the World mountain biking championship, she retained her mixed relay title (with Jordan Sarrou, Anthony Phillip and Victor Koretzky) and then added the World cross-country title.

In late November 2015 Ferrand-Prévot acquired a tibial plateau fracture during training, forcing her to refrain from racing for at least six weeks and miss most of the 2015–2016 cyclocross season.

2016
Ferrand-Prévot endured a difficult 2016 season. She competed in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, however she only finished 26th in the road race and abandoned the cross-country mountain bike race due to struggling with the effects of the tibial fracture she had sustained during the winter. She subsequently ended her season after the Games. In September 2016, after five years with the Rabobank team it was announced that Ferrand-Prévot would join for the 2017 season.

2018
She was on the start list of the Cross Country European Championships in Glasgow and finished 2nd behind Jolanda Neff.

2022
Ferrand-Prévot became the inaugural winner of the UCI Gravel World Championships in the women's race.

Personal life
Ferrand-Prévot comes from a cycling family; her uncle Ludovic Dubau was 1994 French champion in cross-country mountain biking and competed in the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Cyclo-cross

 * 2009–2010
 * Coupe de France
 * 2nd Saint-Quentin
 * 3rd Besançon
 * 3rd National Championships


 * 2010–2011
 * 2nd National Championships
 * Coupe de France
 * 2nd Saint-Jean-de-Monts
 * 3rd Saverne
 * 3rd Miramas
 * UCI World Cup
 * 5th Pontchâteau


 * 2011–2012
 * 1st Overall Coupe la France
 * 1st Rodez
 * 2nd Lignières-en-Berry
 * 3rd Besançon
 * 2nd National Championships
 * Superprestige
 * 2nd Hamme
 * 3rd Bronze medal europe.svg UEC European Championships
 * UCI World Cup
 * 5th Heusden-Zolder


 * 2012–2013
 * 1st Overall Coupe de France
 * 1st Pontchâteau
 * 2nd Besançon
 * 2nd National Championships


 * 2013–2014
 * 1st MaillotFra.PNG National Championships
 * Coupe de France
 * 1st Flamanville
 * 2nd Kalmthout
 * UCI World Cup
 * 4th Rome
 * 5th Namur


 * 2014–2015
 * 1st Jersey rainbow.svg UCI World Championships
 * 1st MaillotFra.PNG National Championships
 * Superprestige
 * 2nd Diegem
 * 2nd Overijse
 * 2nd Hasselt
 * UCI World Cup
 * 3rd Heusden-Zolder
 * 3rd Hoogerheide
 * 5th Namur


 * 2017–2018
 * 1st MaillotFra.PNG National Championships
 * 1st Overijse
 * Superprestige
 * 2nd Diegem
 * UCI World Cup
 * 3rd Nommay
 * 4th Heusden-Zolder
 * 5th Namur

Gravel

 * 2022
 * 1st Jersey rainbow.svg UCI World Championships

Mountain bike

 * 2009
 * 1st Jersey rainbow.svg Cross-country, UCI World Junior Championships
 * 1st UEC Champion Jersey.svg Cross-country, UEC European Junior Championships
 * 3rd Cross-country, National Junior Championships


 * 2010
 * 1st Jersey rainbow.svg Cross-country, UCI World Junior Championships
 * UCI Junior XCO World Cup
 * 1st Offenburg
 * 2nd Houffalize


 * 2011
 * 1st Jersey white.svg Overall UCI Under-23 XCO World Cup
 * 1st Dalby Forest
 * 1st Offenburg
 * 1st Mont-Sainte-Anne
 * 1st Windham
 * 2nd Val di Sole
 * 3rd Nové Město
 * 3rd Bronze medal uci.svg Cross-country, UCI World Under-23 Championships


 * 2012
 * 1st MaillotFra.PNG Cross-country, National Under-23 Championships
 * 4th Cross-country, UEC European Under-23 Championships
 * UCI XCO World Cup
 * 4th Houffalize


 * 2013
 * 1st MaillotFra.PNG Cross-country, National Under-23 Championships
 * 1st Saint-Pompon
 * 2nd Silver medal uci.svg Cross-country, UCI World Under-23 Championships
 * 2nd Cross-country, National Championships


 * 2014
 * 1st Jersey rainbow.svg Team relay, UCI World Championships
 * 1st UEC Champion Jersey.svg Cross-country, UEC European Under-23 Championships
 * 1st MaillotFra.PNG Cross-country, National Championships
 * 1st MaillotFra.PNG Cross-country, National Under-23 Championships
 * UCI XCO World Cup
 * 1st Nové Město
 * 1st Albstadt
 * 3rd Méribel
 * 1st Lons-le-Saunier


 * 2015
 * UCI World Championships
 * 1st Jersey rainbow.svg Cross-country
 * 1st Jersey rainbow.svg Team relay
 * 1st MaillotFra.PNG Cross-country, National Championships
 * UCI XCO World Cup
 * 1st Windham
 * 3rd Nové Město
 * 3rd Mont-Sainte-Anne
 * 1st Saint-Pompon


 * 2016
 * 1st Jersey rainbow.svg Team relay, UCI World Championships
 * 1st MaillotFra.PNG Cross-country, National Championships


 * 2017
 * 1st Roc d'Azur
 * UCI XCO World Cup
 * 2nd Mont-Sainte-Anne
 * UCI World Championships
 * 3rd Bronze medal uci.svg Cross-country
 * 3rd Bronze medal uci.svg Team relay


 * 2018
 * 2nd Silver medal europe.svg Cross-country, UEC European Championships
 * UCI XCO World Cup
 * 2nd Stellenbosch
 * 3rd Nové Město
 * 4th Val di Sole
 * 4th La Bresse
 * UCI XCC World Cup
 * 2nd Nové Město


 * 2019
 * UCI World Championships
 * 1st Jersey rainbow.svg Cross-country
 * 1st Jersey rainbow.svg Marathon
 * 1st MaillotFra.PNG Cross-country, National Championships
 * UCI XCO World Cup
 * 1st Val di Sole
 * 1st Snowshoe
 * 3rd Lenzerheide
 * 5th Les Gets
 * UCI XCC World Cup
 * 1st Lenzerheide
 * 2nd Les Gets
 * 2nd Snowshoe
 * 3rd Val di Sole
 * Internazionali d’Italia Series
 * 2nd La Thuile
 * French Cup
 * 3rd Jeumont
 * Swiss Bike Cup
 * 3rd Leukerbad


 * 2020
 * 1st Jersey rainbow.svg Cross-country, UCI World Championships
 * 1st European champion jersey 2016.svg Cross-country, UEC European Championships
 * 1st Jersey white.svg Overall UCI XCO World Cup
 * 1st Nové Město II
 * 3rd Nové Město I
 * UCI XCC World Cup
 * 2nd Nové Město I
 * 2nd Nové Město II
 * 3rd Marathon, National Championships


 * 2021
 * 1st European champion jersey 2016.svg Cross-country, UEC European Championships
 * UCI XCC World Cup
 * 1st Albstadt
 * 1st Les Gets
 * 2nd Cross-country, National Championships
 * UCI XCO World Cup
 * 2nd Albstadt
 * 4th Nové Město
 * 4th Les Gets
 * 5th Leogang
 * French Cup
 * 2nd Lons-le-Saunier
 * Internazionali d’Italia Series
 * 2nd Nalles
 * 3rd Bronze medal uci.svg Short track, UCI World Championships
 * Swiss Bike Cup
 * 3rd Leukerbad


 * 2022
 * UCI World Championships
 * 1st Jersey rainbow.svg Cross-country
 * 1st Jersey rainbow.svg Short track
 * 1st Jersey rainbow.svg Marathon
 * National Championships
 * 1st MaillotFra.PNG Short track
 * 2nd Cross-country
 * 2nd Marathon
 * UCI XCO World Cup
 * 1st Val di Sole
 * 4th Lenzerheide
 * UCI XCC World Cup
 * 1st Petropolis
 * 1st Val di Sole
 * 2nd Albstadt
 * Ökk Bike Revolution
 * 1st Huttwil
 * 1st Roc d'Azur
 * 2nd Silver medal europe.svg Cross-country, UEC European Championships
 * French Cup
 * 2nd Le Dévoluy
 * 3rd Overall Cape Epic (with Robyn de Groot)


 * 2023
 * UCI World Championships
 * 1st Jersey rainbow.svg Cross-country
 * 1st Jersey rainbow.svg Short track
 * UCI XCC World Cup
 * 1st Leogang
 * 3rd Lenzerheide
 * 3rd Val di Sole
 * XCO French Cup
 * 1st Guéret
 * UCI XCO World Cup
 * 2nd Nové Město
 * 3rd Vallnord
 * 3rd Les Gets
 * 4th Lenzerheide
 * Ökk Bike Revolution
 * 2nd Chur


 * 2024
 * 1st European champion jersey 2016.svg Short track, UEC European Championships
 * UCI XCO World Cup
 * 1st Nové Město
 * 1st Val di Sole
 * Shimano Super Cup
 * 1st La Nucia
 * 1st Banyoles
 * XCO French Cup
 * 1st Marseille
 * Ökk Bike Revolution
 * 1st Chur
 * Swiss Bike Cup
 * 1st Rivera
 * 1st Nals
 * UCI XCC World Cup
 * 2nd Nové Město
 * 2nd Val di Sole
 * XCC French Cup
 * 2nd Marseille

Road

 * 2009
 * UEC European Junior Championships
 * 1st UEC Champion Jersey.svg Time trial
 * 3rd Bronze medal europe.svg Road race
 * National Junior Championships
 * 1st MaillotFra.PNG Road race
 * 1st MaillotFra.PNG Time trial
 * UCI World Junior Championships
 * 2nd Silver medal uci.svg Road race
 * 2nd Silver medal uci.svg Time trial


 * 2010
 * UCI World Junior Championships
 * 1st Jersey rainbow.svg Road race
 * 2nd Silver medal uci.svg Time trial
 * National Junior Championships
 * 1st MaillotFra.PNG Road race
 * 1st MaillotFra.PNG Time trial
 * UEC European Junior Championships
 * 2nd Silver medal europe.svg Road race
 * 2nd Silver medal europe.svg Time trial


 * 2011
 * 4th Time trial, National Championships
 * 4th Halle-Buizingen
 * 5th Grand Prix Elsy Jacobs
 * 5th Grand Prix Nicolas Frantz
 * 7th La Flèche Wallonne
 * 9th Trofeo Alfredo Binda


 * 2012
 * 1st MaillotFra.PNG Time trial, National Championships
 * 1st MaillotFra.PNG Time trial, National Under-23 Championships
 * 1st Jersey yellow.svg Sprints classification, Holland Ladies Tour
 * 2nd Omloop van het Hageland
 * 5th Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
 * 7th Trofeo Alfredo Binda
 * 7th 7-Dorpenomloop Aalburg
 * 8th Overall Festival Luxembourgeois Elsy Jacobs
 * 8th Road race, Olympic Games
 * 10th Ronde van Drenthe
 * 10th Holland Hills Classic


 * 2013
 * 1st MaillotFra.PNG Time trial, National Championships
 * 1st MaillotFra.PNG Time trial, National Under-23 Championships
 * 2nd Silver medal uci.svg Team time trial, UCI World Championships
 * 3rd Dwars door de Westhoek
 * 4th Grand Prix Leende
 * 8th Overall La Route de France
 * 1st Jersey white.svg Young rider classification


 * 2014
 * 1st Jersey rainbow.svg Road race, UCI World Championships
 * National Championships
 * 1st MaillotFra.PNG Road race
 * 1st MaillotFra.PNG Time trial
 * National Under-23 Championships
 * 1st MaillotFra.PNG Road race
 * 1st MaillotFra.PNG Time trial
 * 1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Emakumeen Euskal Bira
 * 1st Stages 1 & 3
 * 1st La Flèche Wallonne
 * 2nd Overall Giro Rosa
 * 1st Jersey white.svg Young rider classification
 * 3rd GP de Plouay
 * 5th Overall Festival Luxembourgeois Elsy Jacobs
 * 1st Jersey white dots on red.svg Mountains classification
 * 1st Jersey white.svg Young rider classification
 * 5th Trofeo Alfredo Binda
 * 6th EPZ Omloop van Borsele


 * 2015
 * National Championships
 * 1st MaillotFra.PNG Road race
 * 3rd Time trial
 * 2nd Trofeo Alfredo Binda
 * 3rd GP de Plouay
 * 5th Overall Festival Luxembourgeois Elsy Jacobs
 * 6th Road race, UCI World Championships
 * 6th Overall Giro Rosa
 * 1st Stage 5
 * 7th Tour of Flanders
 * 8th La Flèche Wallonne


 * 2016
 * 4th Pajot Hills Classic
 * 8th Tour of Flanders


 * 2017
 * 2nd GP de Plouay
 * 8th Amstel Gold Race


 * 2018
 * 6th Trofeo Alfredo Binda
 * 7th Liège–Bastogne–Liège
 * 9th Overall Setmana Ciclista Valenciana
 * 9th Overall The Women's Tour


 * 2021
 * 5th Time trial, National Championships

Awards

 * Velo magazine – International Cyclist of the year: 2014
 * French Sportswoman of the Year: 2014, 2015, 2020