“Comeback Queen” Pauline Ferrand-Prévot abandoned La Vuelta Femenina ahead of Thursday’s fifth stage.
Visma-Lease a Bike posted to Instagram on Thursday morning to reveal the Frenchwoman was “not fit.”
“Unfortunately, Pauline won’t start today’s fifth stage of La Vuelta Femenina. She is not feeling fit enough to continue the race,” read the note.
Ferrand-Prévot started the Spanish tour with the big ambition of taking down Demi Vollering in the race for GC.
However, things looked awry Wednesday when PFP was gapped and lost significant time on the explosive finale of stage 4.
“If you start the Vuelta with ambitions for the general classification, you should not be dropped on a climb like this,” team director Jos van Emden said Wednesday after the stage.
“Unfortunately, that did happen,” Van Emden said. “Now it will be difficult to play a significant role in the classification, but we will not give up the fight yet.”
A pothole in the path to the Tour de France Femmes
La Vuelta Femenina marked an important stepping-stone for Ferrand-Prévot and her 2025 comeback to road racing.
After riding high in the classics and scoring a stunner victory at Paris-Roubaix Femmes, the Spanish race would test the 33-year-old’s legs for the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
PFP has plenty of time to recover ahead of the July Tour, but she may rue the missed race-days as she re-acclimates to the road peloton.
There are currently no other races on her program for May and June.
Meanwhile, Visma-Lease a Bike will pivot its Vuelta ambitions to Marianne Vos, who already blasted to a stage win and should see another opportunity Friday.
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