‘I don’t really see myself doing the same again’ – Pauline Ferrand-Prévot toasts Tour de France Femmes victory, but might not return to the race

When Pauline Ferrand-Prévot was a little girl, she told her mother she wished she was a boy. She wanted to race the Tour de France, she said. But with no women’s version of the event, she knew it wasn’t possible. Her dream, she figured, was already was over.

Now, aged 33, that same girl has not only ridden the Tour – she’s won it. On her race debut, after a six-year hiatus from road racing, the Olympic mountain bike champion earned back-to-back stage wins on the final weekend, securing the yellow jersey with a convincing margin of more than three and a half minutes.