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Ferrand-Prévot transformed to overnight icon as Tour triumph ends decades of hurt for France
The Guardian
|August 05, 2025
It took a long time to find a copy of L'Équipe yesterday morning.
It took a long time to find a copy of L'Équipe yesterday morning. France's flagship daily sports newspaper, emblazoned with an image of a yellow-clad Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, arms outstretched and triumphant, with the banner headline Geante, had almost sold out.
Ferrand-Prévot, the first French rider to win the Tour de France Femmes, has become a national icon almost overnight. After her Paris 2024 gold medal in mountain biking and the Paris-Roubaix win this spring, cycling's slumbering giant has finally awoken.
The French have waited a long time to see one of their own in the yellow jersey – 36 years in women's racing and 40 in men's. During that time, there have been other misfiring women's tours of France, but none of them compare with the modern Tour de France Femmes, which Christian Prudhomme, race director of the men's Tour and initially sceptical of the women's race, now sees as equal in stature.
This story is from the August 05, 2025 edition of The Guardian.
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