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Pauline Ferrand-Prevot leaves Canyon-SRAM as reigning world champion

French star starting Olympic year on new team

Photo by: Bartek Wolinski/Red Bull Content Pool

Pauline Ferrand Prevot will start the 2021 Olympic year with a new team. The French rider, and current elite women’s cross country world champion announced her time with Canyon-SRAM has come to an end.

“It’s time for me to open new doors, thanking all those who believed in me despite the hardships, have accompanied and supported me during these four years rich in intense memories,” Ferrand-Prevot shared.

While she won’t race for Canyon-SRAM in 2021, Ferrand-Prevot’s contract with the team isn’t up until Dec. 31, 2020. That mean’s we’ll all have to wait for news of where she will end up next.

2020 XCO world championships Leogang Austria Pauline Ferrand Prevot
Pauline Ferrand Prevot winning back-to-back titles in elite XCO World Championships in Leogang, Austria on October 10th, 2020. Photo: Bartek Wolinski/Red Bull Content Pool
From surgery to rainbows: four years with Canyon-SRAM

While she leaves Canyon-SRAM as world champion, PFP’s four years with the German brand started very differently. She signed with the brand following the disappointment of the 2016 Olympics, where she finished in the low 20’s after a long process to return to racing at all.

The French riders’ troubles continued over the next four years. Ferrand-Prevot had two illiac artery surgeries over two years. This appears to have finally resolved a mysterious pain that plauged her for years.

In 2019, Ferrand Prevot was back on form. She won her second elite women’s world championship title, her first since winning her historic trifecta world championshps in 2015. That year, she  won elite women’s road, cylocross and mountain biking.

Weeks after her XCO world’s title at Mont-Sainte-Anne, Que., PFP added a second rainbow jersey to her 2019, winning marathon mountain bike world championships.

While much of the 2020 season was delayed, Ferrand Prevot was eventually able to defend her XCO world title in 2020. Her third elite cross country world championship came as part of a French sweep of worlds titles in Leogang, Austria.

“Thank you Pauline for being a part of CANYON//SRAM Racing,” the team stated. “We are proud of everything achieved in the past four years and we wish you all the best for 2021 and beyond!”

During her time at Canyon-SRAM, Ferrand Prevot added two elite world championships, an XCM world title, four World Cup wins, a European XCO championship, 11 World Cup podiums and three national championships to her already impressive palmares.

While Canyon will still be represented in cross country by Mathieu van der Poel, Ferrand Prevot’s departure leaves them without a high profile elite woman going into Tokyo.

Ferrand Prevot isn’t the only rider on the move. Emily Batty has confirmed rumours that she and Trek Factory Racing have parted ways after 12 years.