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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Jeremy Whittle at Elancourt Hill

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot leaves ‘hermit’ status for emotional mountain bike gold

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot dons a tricolour in celebration.
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot dons a tricolour in celebration. Photograph: Alex Broadway/Getty Images

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot laid the ghost of bitter experiences in past Olympic Games with an accomplished ride to an emotional gold medal for France in the women’s mountain biking, but it was a mixed day for the hosts after Loana Lecomte sustained a serious injury in a crash.

For Ferrand-Prévot it was a ­monumental victory, long in the making, in what is expected to be her last mountain biking race. The 32-year-old, five times a world champion, was 25th in London 2012, forced to ­abandon after a crash at the Rio Olympics, and thwarted by a puncture in Tokyo.

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