'Hard to beat' – Pauline Ferrand-Prevot tipped for Tour de France Femmes glory after Paris-Roubaix triumph
By Will Conroy
Updated 16/04/2025 at 11:24 GMT+1
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Matt Stephens believes Pauline Ferrand-Prevot can win the Tour de France Femmes this summer after claiming victory at Paris-Roubaix on Saturday. The cross-discipline rider became the first Frenchwoman to win the race and said afterwards that winning the Tour was her "main goal". Stephens believes she will be "hard to beat" in the summer following her "performance for the ages" on the weekend.
Highlights: Ferrand-Prevot dominates to make history at Paris-Roubaix
Video credit: TNT Sports
Matt Stephens believes Pauline Ferrand-Prevot will be "hard to beat" in this year’s Tour de France Femmes following her debut victory at Paris-Roubaix last weekend.
The Olympic mountain bike champion (Visma-Lease a Bike) became the first Frenchwoman to win the cobbled Monument after riding solo into the iconic Roubaix Velodrome.
Ferrand-Prevot, who is back competing on the road full-time for the first time since 2018, claimed afterwards that the race was only "training" for the Tour.
However, her dominant display prompted Stephens to declare she could go all the way in the fight for the yellow jersey this summer.
"What a display, absolutely magnificent," Stephens said on TNT Sports' The Gruppetto with Rob Hatch.
"It was a performance for the ages. God forbid what’s going to happen at the Tour de France if she continues this vein of form."
Stephens added: "The last French winner was [Frederic] Guesdon back in 1997 for the men, so France, as a cycling nation, needed something like this as well, so it was a special, special victory."
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Questioned whether he thinks she can win the Tour de France, Stephens replied: "Yes, I do.
"I don’t know what her numbers were on the flat, but if she was outriding multiple riders behind, riding in a group on flat roads, and she's about 54kg, give or take, you’ve just got to transpose that over onto a climb.
"She is going to be hard to beat, I think, I really do."
Ferrand-Prevot, who rejoined the road circuit in 2025 following a decade away from the discipline, said after the race that winning the Tour de France Femmes was her "main goal".
"I really want to be 100% for the Tour de France. And I want to try to win the Tour de France within three years," she said.
"We are building something very strong together as a team."
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