‘I Lost the Joy of Everyday Life’: Pauline Ferrand-Prévot Regrets Tour Obsession

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot had an incredible return to road racing last season, winning the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift on her first attempt, but has said that her drive to defend that title cost her dearly this year.

Writing about what ended up being a disappointing season, the French star said that she lost her way due to an obsessive focus, and also saw her love of the bike ebb away.

“I was so over focus[ed] on winning Tour again that I lost the joy of the everyday life,” she said in an Instagram post on Saturday. “It was all about being, and doing more to be the best.

“Strangely, I faced some down times in my career before, where I felt sad and lost, but I never really experienced the fact to do everything so good and to ended up with nothing. And I think it’s one of the reason[s] of my “non-understanding” state of the last few months.”

Although she was incredibly dominant in last year’s Tour and also won Paris-Roubaix, Ferrand-Prévot never really clicked during 2026. She did take second early on in the Tour of Flanders and was third in Paris-Roubaix, but those results plus seventh in Flèche-Wallonne were the only highlights in an otherwise difficult season.

She was off the pace early on in the Tour but insisted she would fare well deeper into the race. However 38th in the time trial and sub-par performances in subsequent stages ultimately saw her withdraw after stage 7.

She didn’t compete again for the rest of the year, with her total just 19 days of competition.

She said that switching off was important.

“Since Tour, I occasionally took my bike and enjoyed what I didn’t allowed myself to do during the entire season,” she wrote.

“I spend times with my family, enjoyed simple things, and spending quality time outside the bike.”

“My never ending off season was so needed,” she added.

A huge life moment

Ferrand-Prévot has been in a relationship with Soudal Quick-Step pro Dylan van Baarle for several years.

They were married in recent days, but both had a big scare earlier in October when he collided with a car while training in Tiel, the Netherlands.

Ferrand-Prévot wrote about it on social media, and said that things could have been much more serious.

“He got a big impact on his head, the helmet definitely save his life,” she wrote at the time on Instagram. “I’m really really grateful that things turned out pretty well.”

His team said that a CT scan showed there was no damage to his skull or spine. However he had to undergo surgery to treat a fractured wrist.

Ferrand-Prévot said that the accident changed her perspective on things.

“With Dylan’s accident 3 weeks ago during training, I realized how life is much more that winning bike races,” she wrote.

“And seeing the person you love the most having such a hard time put things in perspective. And for once, I was “happy” to be by his side and do my best to support him as good as possible. Usually he is the one who always take care of me.”

Fortunately he had his cast removed three days before the wedding, with the day itself being one that Ferrand-Prévot compared and contrasted to her professional successes.

That too gives her a sense of perspective.

“I remembered being happy when winning the Olympics, Tour or Roubaix, but this feeling of getting married to Dylan with the presence of the most important people in my life was another level of joy, happiness and fulfillment.

“Experiencing this feeling of being so happy while not sacrificing everything or being extreme was something I never experienced before.”

Mentally refreshed but hard work lies ahead

Ferrand-Prévot’s fans will welcome her happiness. They’ll also wonder what these past few months will mean for her career. She was spectacular in year one of her return but a long way off that form this season. Can she rebound?

The Visma-Lease a Bike leader thinks so but as she ends what she says was ‘a really long/needed off-season for me,’ she sounds like she needed to completely switch off for a while.

Doing so has, it seems, helped her to has worked through the negative feelings she experienced due to a relentless drive for another Tour win.

She appears to be mentally refreshed, but freely admits that a lot of hard work lies ahead in a bid to get back into condition.

“It will be a long way to find a descent [sic] level again, as I’m fully unshaped,” she wrote. “But the most important for now is to find back the joy to be on the bike.”

If she’s found the right balance, the unexpected success of 2025 might be repeated next year.