Pauline Ferrand-Prévot confirmed an exuberant overall win in the Tour de France Femmes in style, with her second mountain-stage win in Châtel Les Portes du Soleil. Amid euphoric scenes, Ferrand-Prévot, gold medallist at the Paris Olympics last year, followed up her lone win on the Col de la Madeleine on Saturday with another solo exploit in the Tour’s final stage.
Ferrand-Prévot is the first French rider to win the Tour de France Femmes, 36 years after her compatriot Jeannie Longo won the Tour de France Féminin, although that race did not compare with the scale, difficulty and global renown of the latest incarnation. Suddenly, after waiting 40 years for a successor to Bernard Hinault in the men’s Tour, all France is now enamoured by women’s cycling and with the 33-year-old from Reims, who was called within minutes of confirming her victory by the French president, Emmanuel Macron.
