Can’t stop, won’t stop: Pauline Ferrand-Prévot to chase a fourth rainbow jersey
Frenchwoman will line up at gravel worlds in Italy after becoming world champion in short track, cross country, and marathon mountain bike one month ago.
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Over a span of three weeks in late August/early September, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot became a mountain bike world champion, three times.
In short succession the French phenom won the short track, cross country, and marathon mountain bike races, becoming the first person to ever claim all three world titles in a year. The trifecta brought her total tally of elite world championship victories to nine.
Next week, Ferrand-Prévot will attempt to add a fourth rainbow-striped jersey to her 2022 wardrobe.
On October 8, the 30-year-old will race in the inaugural UCI Gravel World Championships in Veneto, Italy. The women’s race-course is 140 kilometers long with 700 meters of climbing, on 70 percent gravel roads. The relatively flat and non-technical course should foster fast, dynamic road-style racing.
While Ferrand-Prévot has only raced road — and ‘cross — minimally in the last five years, she’s no stranger to success on either surface. She is a multi-time national champion across all three disciplines, and in 2014-15, at 23, Ferrand-Prévot became the first cyclist to win world titles in cross country, ‘cross, and on the road.
The gravel world championship race is another chance for Ferrand-Prévot to write history.