Pauline Ferrand-Prévot has not raced her bike in more than 10 weeks after pulling out of the Vuelta a España due to an ongoing ankle injury sustained in the spring that required additional hospital treatment, several rounds of antibiotics, and then there was unexpected illness.
While the injury wreaked havoc on her late-spring and early-summer racing campaign, the Olympic Champion and Paris-Roubaix winner says she is back to full health. Instead of returning to the peloton, she moved to altitude for hours upon hours of training in the mountains and now Ferrand-Prévot is ready to attempt a yellow-jersey coup in her first participation in the Tour de France Femmes. If she manages this feat, she would be the first French rider to do so since Bernard Hinault won the men's title in 1985 and Jeannie Longo won the women's title in 1989.
