Pauline Ferrand-Prévôt (Visma-Lease a Bike) will not defend her Paris-Roubaix title in 2026 and will instead focus on a programme built around Strade Bianche, the Tour of Flanders, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Tour de France Femmes.
She laid out her ambitious season plans in a team video presentation, but has separately confirmed to French outlets L'Équipe and Ouest-France that she would not defend Roubaix.
"I will narrow my goals to just one or two a year," Ferrand-Prévôt said in October. "I don't want to win everything because I don't want that pressure."
However, her words in today's presentation suggest an evolution from her modest outlook in October.
"So my goal for this year will be to be to win every race I participate in," she said.
“It means I want to win Strade, Flanders, Liège and the Tour de France. I really believe I can reach that level, and to maintain it over a longer period.”
Her 2026 programme opens at Strade Bianche on 7 March before two major spring targets: the Tour of Flanders on 5 April and Liège-Bastogne-Liège on 26 April. Both remain absent from her palmarès, and both are expected to see her race against Lotte Kopecky – a rivalry she addressed publicly last autumn.
Ferrand-Prévôt will then race the Vuelta a España (3–10 May) as her primary Grand Tour preparation before a period of altitude training ahead of the Tour de France Femmes, which runs 1–9 August. The 2026 route includes an individual time trial – identified by the Frenchwoman as "a great challenge" – and a summit finish on Mont Ventoux.
"The stage I’m most looking forward to is Mont Ventoux," she said in the team presentation. "It’s a climb I know really well – I’ve ridden it many times already. I like spending time in that part of France.”
