French national gravel champion Axelle Dubau-Prévot will ride for EF Education-Oatly in 2026, adding top-level road racing to her schedule after a rapid rise in the off-road ranks.
Dubau-Prévot, 29, has long mixed the disciplines and ridden for lower-level road teams in the past before taking a break from the sport, but her arrival at EF comes after she found her groove in gravel and had a hugely successful 2025 in the discipline.
The Frenchwoman won two rounds of the UCI Gravel World Series, podiumed at two others, and came second at the Traka 360, before four stages and the overall at Gravel Burn. Her performances were enough to catch the attention of WorldTour teams and allow her to make a return to the road for 2026.
"This is my dream team," she said in a team press release. "They think outside of the box at EF Education-Oatly. It’s the only team where I can see myself because I don’t have a traditional cycling background. I want to be serious and also to keep the joy and the fun in racing."
She will continue to race both gravel and road with the American team, which mixes its WorldTour programs with various off-road and alternative racing calendars, such as Lachlan Morton's adventure programme, or the cyclo-cross team built around Mattia Agostinacchio. Adding a female off-road rider was a goal for EF manager Esra Tromp.
"We were looking for a rider who could be competitive in gravel as well as be an asset with our road team, so Axelle is a great fit," Tromp said.
"On the road, she’s something of an all-rounder, and on gravel, she has the endurance for stage races and the speed to go for one-day races. Axelle’s background isn’t that of a typical cyclist, and I like that.
"I think it gives her a healthy perspective on racing and on life. knowing that she has chosen to step away from the sport at times. This kind of maturity says a lot about her character.”
Dubau-Prévot says her goals for 2026 will include defending her French gravel title, a return to the Traka, and developing as a teammate on the road.
When it comes to road racing, it's no surprise that the Frenchwoman is hoping to start at the Tour de France Femmes in the coming season, particularly after seeing her sister Pauline Ferrand-Prévot win the yellow jersey in 2025.
"When I heard a few years ago that the Tour was coming back, I was out of the cycling world, and I felt a bit sad to think that I would never take part in it," she said. "I’m French, and if someone asks me what I do and I say I’m a cyclist, they immediately ask if I race the Tour de France. It’s the reference.
"Now, after watching the race and seeing that EF Education-Oatly really wants to do something big at the Tour, I would love to make the Tour squad one year."
