Strade Bianche Donne<\/a>, but she believes the race also provided valuable lessons about how to approach the demanding Tuscan course.<\/p>\n\u201cI watched the race again,\u201d she said. \u201cI spent a lot of energy trying to bridge across to the group that went early. I wouldn\u2019t make the same mistake today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Strade Bianche is often deceptive in its difficulty, she explained, particularly as the kilometres begin to accumulate on the gravel roads.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the beginning the race doesn\u2019t seem difficult, but after around 100 kilometres it becomes hard. It\u2019s better to manage your energy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Racing alongside Marianne Vos<\/p>\n
Another important element of Ferrand-Prevot\u2019s development on the road has been her experience racing alongside Marianne Vos at Team Visma | Lease a Bike Women. \u201cRacing with Marianne is such an honour,\u201d she said. \u201cI always learn from her.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the same time, she believes the team as a whole has grown stronger heading into the new season. \u201cI also feel that the team is ready and that we\u2019re going to move up a level this year. There are new riders who impressed me during the training camp.\u201d<\/p>\n
A new status in the peloton<\/p>\n
Ferrand-Prevot\u2019s victory in last year\u2019s Tour de France Femmes has also changed how she is perceived in the peloton, a shift she admits took time to fully understand.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy status in the peloton has changed,\u201d she said. \u201cAt the World Championships I realised I wasn\u2019t racing like a favourite. I was waiting, but everyone was waiting for me to ride. I didn\u2019t realise that my status had changed. It took me some time to process that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, however, the French rider feels more comfortable embracing her role as a leader within the team. \u201cNow I feel more like a favourite and a team leader, which gives me more confidence. It\u2019s a good kind of pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Focus on the race ahead<\/p>\n
While Ferrand-Prevot is eager to begin her season, she has deliberately kept her focus away from the constant flow of news and social media that surrounds the sport.<\/p>\n
Asked about rising French talent Paul Seixas, who will also race Strade Bianche this weekend, she admitted she has not been closely following the latest headlines.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, I haven\u2019t watched television or social media for such a long time that I don\u2019t really know what\u2019s happening in the world,\u201d she said. \u201cI prefer doing other things and being present in the moment rather than spending so much time on my phone.\u201d<\/p>\n
For now, the focus is simply on returning to competition. And after months of training, the reigning Tour champion is eager to see how her preparation translates once the racing begins again on the white roads of Tuscany.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cEven though I love training, I\u2019m really looking forward to racing again after such a long winter,”…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287384,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,22239,85,260624,6494,23293],"class_list":{"0":"post-523004","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-pauline-ferrand-prevot","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-strade-bianche-donne","14":"tag-tadej-pogacar","15":"tag-womens-cycling"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523004","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=523004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Team](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/team-visma-lease-a-bike-69a9b14a9b86f.jpg@webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n