Ferrand-Prévot sheds further time on stage 5 of the Femmes: 'The others were just stronger today'
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma | Lease a Bike) is out of the running for a second consecutive Tour de France Femmes title after a second heavy time loss on stage 5. The defending champion could not follow Marlen Reusser, Demi Vollering and Kasia Niewiadoma when the pace lifted on the penultimate climb, dropping her to 17th overall at more than five minutes off race leader Reusser ahead of the Mont Ventoux stage on Friday.
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Ferrand Prévot had already lost ground to her general classification rivals in the individual time trial to Dijon 24 hours earlier. A day later, the hilly fifth stage exposed another vulnerability, as she was unable to match the strongest climbers.
“To be honest, I felt quite good,” Ferrand Prévot told Eurosport. “I was simply dropped on the steep section of the penultimate climb. I could no longer accelerate, but I did not feel bad. The others were just stronger today.
“I have to be honest and admit that I was not good enough to follow them.”
The Frenchwoman was reluctant to draw a direct connection between her setbacks on stages 4 and 5, arguing that the two days demanded very different qualities.
“A time trial is obviously very different. You mainly need a lot of power,” she said. “Today, you needed to climb well and have a little more explosiveness. That is what I am missing at the moment.
“It is simply an honest assessment. I do not want to fool myself.”
Ferrand-Prévot's own take on the deficit was measured, with the Frenchwoman already looking towards Friday's stage, which finishes on the iconic 'bald mountain', Mont Ventoux for the first time in Tour de France Femmes history.
"I have no idea what the time gap is yet, so I can't say anything about that. But Mont Ventoux will be another new day and another battle, and we are going to give everything there."
Ferrand-Prévot sits 17th overall, 5:02 behind race leader Marlen Reusser. Friday’s summit finish on Mont Ventoux represents her final realistic opportunity to revive her title defence and leave a mark on the race.
She will be hoping to reproduce the kind of climbing performance that delivered victory on the Col de la Madeleine in 2025, when she finished 1:45 ahead of Sarah Gigante after a commanding long range attack.
Result: Tour de France Femmes stage 5
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