Pauline Ferrand-Prévot is out of La Vuelta Femenina forward of Thursday’s stage 5, her Visma-Lease A Bike crew have introduced.
The Frenchwoman, who gained Paris-Roubaix Femmes earlier this spring, is “not feeling match sufficient to proceed the race”, the Dutch crew said in a put up on social media on Thursday morning.
Ferrand-Prévot lay thirty fourth total, 38 seconds off race chief Femke Gerritse (SD Worx-Protime) heading into Wednesday’s fourth stage to Borja. Nonetheless, she was amongst a number of Visma-Lease A Bike riders to drop on the ultimate climb of the hilly stage, Puerto de El Buste.
Whereas stage 2 winner Marianne Vos led the principle group dwelling 12 seconds behind solo stage winner Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime), Ferrand-Prévot misplaced extra time, ending in thirty second at 26 seconds down.
She lay in twenty fifth total, 58 seconds down on Gerritse, on the conclusion of stage 4.
Talking after the stage, Visma-Lease A Bike directeur sportif Jos van Emden criticised Ferrand-Prévot for the time loss, saying she “should not have been dropped on a climb like this”, contemplating she was preventing for a excessive GC end.
“In the event you begin the Vuelta with ambitions for the GC, you shouldn’t be dropped on a climb like this,” he instructed WielerFlits on Wednesday. “Sadly, that did occur. Now it will likely be tough to play a major position within the classification, however we won’t hand over the combat but.”
The most recent race content material, interviews, options, evaluations and skilled shopping for guides, direct to your inbox!
Vos continues to guide the factors classification for the crew with 170 factors to Gerritse’s 132. Nonetheless, she is not anticipated to retain her third place total throughout Thursday’s summit end GC showdown at Lagunas de Neila. Visma’s subsequent best-placed riders, Femke De Vries and Imogen Wolff, lie over three minutes off the race lead.
“I went for the very best attainable, however a second place was not attainable at this time,” Vos stated after stage 4. “I actually needed to combat exhausting to stick with it. When Anna went, I knew it might be tough to catch her once more.”
Ferrand-Prévot’s withdrawal is not the primary disappointment of the race for Visma-Lease A Bike. The crew completed tenth, 21 seconds off the lead, within the opening crew time trial in Barcelona after they have been held up at the start by what they called “errors in the UCI’s team time trial start procedure.”
The crew filed an official grievance alleging that their riders have been held up by different groups arriving late and UCI officers finishing up gradual bike checks forward of the stage begin. Visma said that they’d “pursue additional steps and file a proper grievance with the UCI administration.”
🇪🇸 #LaVueltaFemenina Sadly, Pauline gained’t begin at this time’s fifth stage of @lavueltafem. She isn’t feeling match sufficient to proceed the race. 😔Take care, Pauline! 🍀 pic.twitter.com/5YI2goaR9wMay 8, 2025
