Leogang (Austria) (AFP)

Thanks to an attack from the first climb followed by a show of force, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot won her third cross-country mountain bike world title on Saturday at the age of 28, outclassing the competition on the muddy and slippery course of Leogang, in the Austrian Alps.

The suspense in the quest for a second consecutive coronation after that of Mont Sainte-Anne in Quebec last year lasted only a few seconds for Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, the time to get in front of the peloton just after the start. and to place an attack from the first high percentages.

"It was a really amazing race. I wanted to have a really good start so that I could make a difference in the climbs and descents, because I knew it could be a little tense in the descent if we were riding in a group," commented. PFP "after the race.

She was hoping to do a solo race, but "didn't expect such a gap".

"I wanted to be safe until the end and keep my calm and move forward at a good pace," admitted Ferrand-Prévot.

She crossed the line more than three minutes ahead of Italy's Eva Lechner, who beat Australia's Rebecca McConnell in the sprint.

"I started from the start and tried to widen the gap as much as possible to avoid it coming back behind in the event of a fall or a mechanical problem. I felt good and gave my maximum," added the Champenoise.

- Make way for the Tokyo 2020 Games -

Ferrand-Prévot dons his sixth rainbow jersey for all individual events.

She is the first to retain her world title since Julie Bresset's double (Olympic champion in London in 2012), crowned in 2012 in Leogang and in 2013 in Pietermaritzburg in South Africa.

World champion on the road in 2014, cyclo-cross in 2015 and cross-country mountain biking in 2015, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot missed her Olympic Games in Rio in 2016.

After an operation for iliac endofibrosis on her left leg in January 2019, she returned to the world summit at the end of August of the same year, but had to be operated again in early January 2020 for the same injury.

The postponement of the Tokyo-2020 Olympics to the summer of 2021 (July 23-August 8) due to the Covid-19 pandemic gave him a little more time to recover from this relapse and prepare for the only title major which is missing from his impressive track record.

And even if "PFP" has not yet reached the thirties, the tricolor relief is already assured: among the hopes (under 23), Loana Lecomte won the world title Saturday morning.

Lecomte (21) had beaten Ferrand-Prévot at Nove Mesto two weeks ago in the World Cup for seniors and is one of the great hopes of French mountain biking with a view to the Olympics-2020 in Tokyo and 2024 in Paris .

© 2020 AFP