Montreal (AFP)
What a comeback! Pauline Ferrand-Prévot of France won the Olympic Cross-Country World Championship on Saturday at the Mont-Sainte-Anne resort outside Quebec City, Canada, claiming a fourth world title four years after the last.
"I think it's my best title in the world," said Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, just after her race, letting a few tears run down the podium.
"I already lost the last four years, I knew it was my day," she added.
The new quadruple world champion (road 2014, cyclo-cross 2015, mountain bike 2015 and therefore 2019) comes back from a distance, after an operation in January of an iliac endofibrosis, a pain which, she says, has ruined her three previous seasons .
Yet in 18th position, the French cyclist was explosive throughout the race to climb to the top of the standings, ahead of Switzerland Jolanda Neff and Australia's Rebecca McConnell, leaving the race's favorite, the American Kate Courtney in 5th place.
The 27-year-old Champenoise has returned to the podium recently by winning the bronze medal on Wednesday in the mixed relay event played by the national team and winning a round of the World Cup in early August in Italy.
On the national level, the companion of the cyclist Julien Absalon, remained sovereign and won a sixth title of champion of France on July 21st.
© 2019 AFP