
Tour de France: Pauline Ferrand-Prévot rides to victory – DW – 08/03/2025
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot cycled to victory in the on Sunday, becoming the first Frenchwoman to win the iconic race since the reestablishment of the women's edition four years ago.
After nine days of racing, the 33-year-old Olympic cross-country champion finished three minutes and 42 seconds ahead of Demi Vollering of the Netherlands and more than four minutes ahead of last year's winner, Katarzyna Niewiadoma of Poland.
"This stage was really difficult," she said of the ninth and final stage in the Alpine region of Haute-Savoie. "But I was determined to win here wearing the yellow jersey. It's a dream come true."
After concentrating primarily on cross-country cycling for the past seven years, Ferrand-Prévot – nicknamed "PFP" – shifted her focus to the road this season, winning the prestigious Paris-Roubaix race in northern France in April and also making the podium in the in Belgium (second place) and the in Italy (third).
She abandoned the in Spain in May, judging herself to be short of form and wanting to concentrate on the upcoming – a wise decision, as it turned out.
"I remember telling my mother that I wanted to be a boy so that I could compete in the ," she said ahead of the start of the race in Vannes on the Atlantic coast in northwestern France two weeks ago.
"But now it's possible as a woman. That's why I came back to road racing, just to do ."

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Int'l Business Times
13 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
With Six Months To Go, Winter Games Organisers Say They'll Be Ready
Six months before the start of the Winter Olympics, Italian organisers say that, after years of ups and downs, they are on schedule. "Preparations are progressing steadily and according to the timeline we have set," Andrea Varnier, the chief executive officer of Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Organising Committee, told AFP. The Olympic opening ceremony is on February 6, though curling kicks off the action two days earlier. The Paralympics open a month later on March 6, though curling again breaks the ice two days beforehand. "We are currently in the core phase of operational implementation," said Varnier. Simico, the public company responsible for delivering the Olympic facilities, last week promised that "all the planned sports construction projects will be completed before the start of the Olympics". Organisers have made a point of delivering a low-cost Winter games after recent extravangances. Sochi, in Russia in 2014, cost at least $40 billion (34.5 bn euros at current exchange rates). Pyeongchang, in South Korea in 2018, came in at over $12 bn. The Covid-hit Games in Beijing in 2022 officially cost $4 bn, but financial analysts said that including infrastructure costs put the total at around $38bn. Milan-Cortina estimate their final bill will be 5.2 bn euros ($6 bn). Of that 3.5 bn euros is going on infrastructure and 1.7 bn euros on staging the Games. The Games are using a host of existing venues - emphasising the point by holding the closing ceremony in the almost 2,000-year-old Roman amphitheatre in Verona. Organisers say that avoiding new construction reduces not only costs but environmental impact. This approach also means the Games will stretch across northern Italy from Cortina in the Dolomites in the east 350 kilometres to the western suburbs of Milan, with other "clusters" spread through the Alps. "As with any complex global event, challenges are part of the process," said Varnier. "We are moving forward with confidence." One of the few new venues will be briefly the Milano Santa Giulia Ice Hockey Arena before assuming its intended role as the multi-purpose Eventim Arena after the Games. While organisers have managed to avoid being lumbered with a little-used speed-skating track by temporarily converting two exhibition halls at the Milan fair grounds, another group of sports with few participants created a political and construction headache. Because Italy did not have a track for the bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton events, organisers considered using existing sites in Austria or Switzerland. Matteo Salvini, the second-in-command and Minister of Transport in Giorgia Meloni's hard-right government, insisted in late 2023 that the events be held in Italy. That meant a breakneck race to build a track in Cortina. It was completed just in time for pre-approval in March. Accommodation, which often poses a logistical and financial problem for Olympic organisers, seems to be locked up. The Milan Village, six seven-storey buildings to be converted into university dorms after the Games, will be delivered in "early October" despite the recent legal troubles of its developer, the Coima group. In Cortina, 377 prefabricated modules will be installed by the end of October. While it is not clear if Italy's ski star Federica Brignone, who won the overall World Cup and a world title last season but smashed her left leg, will be fit to compete, the organisers revealed in July the design of the medals she would be chasing. They will weigh 420 grams in bronze and 500 grams in gold and in silver. The designer promised the medals will endure better than a few of those from last year's Paris Games. Some 220 medals, which contained a small piece of scrap metal from the Eiffel Tower, had to be replaced because they quickly turned black or rusted. "We cannot allow what happened in Paris to happen again," said their designer Raffaella Panie. That leaves just one unknown. The Italian meteorological service, contacted by AFP, said it was unable to predict whether there would be enough snow next February. The organisers said they were not worried. "We'll be ready," they said. Ready to deliver: Milan-Cortina chief executive Andrea Varnier AFP Uphill task: the sliding track in Cortina was ready in time for its March deadline AFP Rust-proof: Milan-Cortina say their Olympic medals will stand the test of time AFP


DW
2 days ago
- DW
Tour de France: Pauline Ferrand-Prévot rides to victory – DW – 08/03/2025
"PFP" becomes the first Frenchwoman to win the iconic race since the reestablishment of the women's Tour four years ago. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot cycled to victory in the on Sunday, becoming the first Frenchwoman to win the iconic race since the reestablishment of the women's edition four years ago. After nine days of racing, the 33-year-old Olympic cross-country champion finished three minutes and 42 seconds ahead of Demi Vollering of the Netherlands and more than four minutes ahead of last year's winner, Katarzyna Niewiadoma of Poland. "This stage was really difficult," she said of the ninth and final stage in the Alpine region of Haute-Savoie. "But I was determined to win here wearing the yellow jersey. It's a dream come true." After concentrating primarily on cross-country cycling for the past seven years, Ferrand-Prévot – nicknamed "PFP" – shifted her focus to the road this season, winning the prestigious Paris-Roubaix race in northern France in April and also making the podium in the in Belgium (second place) and the in Italy (third). She abandoned the in Spain in May, judging herself to be short of form and wanting to concentrate on the upcoming – a wise decision, as it turned out. "I remember telling my mother that I wanted to be a boy so that I could compete in the ," she said ahead of the start of the race in Vannes on the Atlantic coast in northwestern France two weeks ago. "But now it's possible as a woman. That's why I came back to road racing, just to do ."


Int'l Business Times
5 days ago
- Int'l Business Times
Authorities Abandon Recovery Of German Olympian Killed In Pakistan
Authorities have abandoned efforts to recover the body of German Olympic biathlete Laura Dahlmeier, who died in a mountaineering accident in Pakistan this week. Dahlmeier was confirmed dead on Wednesday, having been hit by falling rocks while climbing at an altitude of 5,700 metres (18,700 feet) on Laila Peak in the Karakoram range. Attempts to recover her body were abandoned due to "dangerous" conditions at the site, Dahlmeier's management agency said Thursday. In consultation with the Alpine Club of Pakistan, the agency said her relatives would "continue to monitor the situation... and are keeping the option of arranging a rescue at a later date". Several of Dahlmeier's colleages confirmed the two-time Olympic gold medallist had said she did not want her body recovered if it put any would-be rescuers at risk. German mountaineer Thomas Huber was part of a team who had attempted a rescue but told reporters on Thursday: "We have decided she should stay, because that was her wish." Another member of the rescue team, American Jackson Marvell told AFP it would be "disrespectful" to recover her body contrary to her wishes. Marvell said "the recovery of Laura's body will be possible, but it involves incredible risks, both on foot and by helicopter". Dahlmeier's climbing partner Marina Krauss, who was with her at the time of the incident, said at a press conference on Thursday the former Olympian did not move after being caught in a rockfall. "I saw Laura being hit by a huge rock and then being thrown against the wall. And from that moment on, she didn't move again," Krauss told reporters. Krauss said she was unable to reach Dahlmeier and called for outside support. "It was impossible for me to get there safely. "It was clear to me the only way to help her was to call a helicopter. She didn't move, she didn't show any signs (of movement). I called out to her, but there was no response." "She only had a chance if help arrived immediately," she said. Dahlmeier won seven world championship gold medals, and at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang she became the first woman biathlete to win both the sprint and the pursuit at the same Games. Dahlmeier retired from professional competition in 2019 at the age of 25.