## Pauline Ferrand-Prévot: Beyond the Scale, a Champion’s Triumph and Resilience
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, the celebrated French cyclist who dominated the women’s Tour de France this summer, is speaking out about the unwarranted focus on her physique during her victorious campaign. While her win was undeniably brilliant, a shadow of criticism lingered, centered on her weight loss.
In a candid interview wiht Ouest-France, the 33-year-old powerhouse addressed the comments that, for some, overshadowed her athletic achievement. “we secretly hoped that she would not win,”
admitted fellow cyclist Marlen Reusser, a sentiment that clearly stung Ferrand-Prévot. “What disappointed me the most was that people only saw that,”
the champion retorted, emphasizing that her victory was far from a simple consequence of shedding a few pounds. “It’s not as I was sharp that I was going to win the Tour. There were so many parameters around, so much training…”
Ferrand-Prévot feels her success has been unfairly reduced to a discussion about her silhouette, a critique she finds especially galling when compared to the less scrutinizing lens often applied to male athletes. “I found it a little strange to bring everything back to this question of weight which, for men, poses fewer problems, apparently… Then I found it a little easy. I didn’t win just as I was skinny!”
she clarified, labeling the narrative a “slightly ridiculous shortcut.”
The Visma-Lease a bike rider also highlighted the potential dangers of maintaining an excessively low weight for extended periods. “I have already gained almost five kilos more than at the Tour today,”
she revealed, referencing past criticism that she wasn’t a positive role model for young girls. She explained the necessity of weight fluctuations for her body’s regeneration and planning for future seasons. “What needs to be explained”
she stated, “is that it can be ‘hazardous to stay too thin for too long.’ I have weight variations between the season and the rest period. It is indeed necessary for my body to regenerate in order to start again with a specific objective next season.”
### A Season of Unforgettable Moments
Currently recovering from ankle surgery, Ferrand-Prévot is looking back on a season filled with immense highs, despite the lingering discomfort. The 2024 Olympic mountain bike champion confessed that she initially believed her Olympic triumph would remain the pinnacle of her career.
“It’s quite funny because I told myself that after the Games, I would never relive such strong sporting moments,”
she shared. “The Games were truly the best moment of my career for me. I wasn’t sad, but I told myself that I would never experience that again.”
However, the Tour de France provided an unexpected encore. “And at the time of the Tour de France, especially during the last stage in Châtel which I won with the yellow jersey with all this audience shouting my name, I told myself that I had managed to relive something like this. It was incredible and unexpected.”
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot’s journey this season is a powerful testament to her athletic prowess, mental fortitude, and the importance of celebrating a champion’s achievements beyond superficial judgments. Her resilience in the face of criticism, coupled with her ability to recapture peak performance and emotional highs, solidifies her status as an inspiration to athletes worldwide.
