{"id":411112,"date":"2026-01-14T00:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T00:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/411112\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T00:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T00:12:08","slug":"pauline-ferrand-prevot-already-looks-forward-to-defending-her-tour-title-on-mont-ventoux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/411112\/","title":{"rendered":"Pauline Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot already looks forward to defending her Tour title on Mont Ventoux"},"content":{"rendered":"

“I can\u2019t wait to go all in again with my teammates,” Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot begins in a press release<\/a>. “We have a strong group of motivated riders, and compared to last season we\u2019ve taken more steps forward. That\u2019s great to see. For me, 2025 was a year full of learning, but I pick up new things quickly. The support from the staff and my teammates meant I was able to reach a high level very fast. What we achieved last season was incredible, but my focus is already on the coming year.”While Pauline won perhaps the two biggest races on her 2025 calendar (except the World Championships), those were also her only triumphs that year. For 2026, she aims to be more consistent across the season. And, perhaps, get closer to her new friend Tadej Pogacar’s<\/a> dominance in men’s peloton.<\/p>\n

“Last season I was very good on several occasions, but I still want to work on my consistency. My goal is to fight for the very top in every race I start. That will be a challenge, but it\u2019s one I\u2019m happy to take on. I finished on the podium many times in 2025, but secretly I want to win more.”<\/p>\n

However the Tour remains the main goal of 2026. Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot is well-aware that defending her title will be even more challenging than winning for the first time. “Last season I started the Tour as an outsider, but that will be different next season,” she says. “I have to be ready to start as one of the favourites in the biggest races from now on. I like pressure and I can handle it well, so I\u2019m really looking forward to it.”<\/p>\n

“The Tour was the most important race we could win. It was an amazing team performance. I will do everything I can to defend my title. The Tour route includes an individual time trial, and I see that as a great challenge too. Time trialling suited me well in the past, but it\u2019s definitely a discipline I can still improve. That\u2019s why I\u2019ll be spending a lot of time on the time-trial bike in the build-up to the Tour. It\u2019s a short effort, which in principle should suit me. I\u2019m also especially looking forward to the stage to Mont Ventoux. I\u2019ve also marked the final stage, close to my home, as a major goal.”<\/p>\n

“The high expectations for the coming year give me extra motivation to improve. I perform better when there\u2019s pressure, so I see very little negative in those expectations. I\u2019m absolutely ready to give the best of myself again,” Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot concludes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“I can\u2019t wait to go all in again with my teammates,” Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot begins in a press release. “We…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411113,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,22239,85,165035,22234],"class_list":["post-411112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-pauline-ferrand-prevot","tag-sports","tag-team-visma-lease-a-bike","tag-tour-de-france-femmes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}