Franziska Koch (FDJ United-Suez) won Paris-Roubaix Femmes, beating Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) in the sprint of three. Vos’ teammate Pauline Ferrand-Prévot rounded out the podium.

Ferrand-Prévot made the decisive move when she accelerated from the front group on a small rise after the Mons-en-Pévèle sector. Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime), Vos, and Koch were the only riders who could follow, forming a front group of four.

Ferrand-Prévot did most of the work in this group until Koch attacked on sector 6. Vos joined her move while Ferrand-Prévot backed off, and Vas soon lost contact with the Frenchwoman as well. Eventually, Ferrand-Prévot made her way back to the two leaders.

Koch and Ferrand-Prévot traded turns with Vos saving herself for the sprint. Koch attacked with 4.5km to go, dropping Ferrand-Prévot, but Vos was glued to her wheel. Ferrand-Prévot returned on the penultimate kilometre and accelerated, now pulling Koch and Vos to the Roubaix velodrome.

In the velodrome, Koch went high on the boards with Vos on her wheel before diving down again behind Ferrand-Prévot who led out the sprint. On the back straight, Koch and Vos launched their sprint, going through the final corner side by side. Vos was in the outside lane, pulled ahead on the finishing straight, but Koch fought back and just pipped Vos to the line.

“It’s kind of hard to believe. I’ve been dreaming about it, but Roubaix is a race where anything can happen, and that it worked out in the end, it’s like a dream,” said Koch after the biggest victory of her career.

“We did a really good race with the team. We knew that positioning is key in the beginning. It’s like a war going into the cobble sections, and we were fully committed to invest already early in the race. I managed to stay out of trouble, always be in the top-ten on the cobble sections. We wanted to make the race hard, and after Mons-en-Pévèle, I ended up in the perfect move,” Koch described the race.

Racing against two Visma-Lease a Bike riders put Koch on the spot but also allowed her to save herself for the final.

“Having two riders of the same team [with you] is a challenge on the one hand, on the other hand also a bit of a benefit because the work is not necessarily on you. I tried to get rid of them a little bit, but in the end, I had to gamble on the sprint,” she said.

In the velodrome, Koch beat renowned sprinter Vos to the line after a hard race.

“I could feel her coming after the corner, and she gets more downhill than me, but I just thought, ‘no, I’m so close now, I have to win’. I just could speed up a little bit more at the end, and I knew it when I threw my bike,” Koch described the sprint.

(From L) Second-placed Team Visma - Lease a Bike's Marianne Vos, first-placed FDJ United-SUEZ's Franziska Koch and third-placed Team Visma - Lease a Bike's Pauline Ferrand-Prévot

Paris-Roubaix Femmes 2026 podium (l-r): second place Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), winner Franziska Koch (FDJ United-Suez) and third place Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) (Image credit: Getty Images)