00:03Welcome to the sixth edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes.
00:06This year, 121 of the world's best women will tackle the fearsome cobblestones of the hell of the north.
00:15Pauline Ferron-Prevo is back and looking to defend her title for Visma Lisa bike,
00:19or perhaps help her teammate Marianne Vos to finally conquer this race.
00:25Well, clearly what made me come back is the fact that Marianne is starting today.
00:30The key to Roubaix is trying to avoid problems and staying calm even if you have them.
00:36It's a race where you can always come back and anything can happen, so it'll be super interesting.
00:44Lotta Capecchi is another big favourite.
00:46The 2024 winner spearheads the SD Works Pro-Time squad, also featuring the pelotons' top sprinter, Lorena Vibes.
00:54The key is for sure to stay out of trouble.
00:57We were watching a little bit of menstruation in the bus and there was already a lot of flat tyres
01:01or crashes.
01:01So, yeah, we hope we don't have too many of that and I hope we can play it well.
01:08In the absence of demi-following, FDJ United Suez also have multiple options with the Strada Bianchi winner, Elise Chabay
01:15and Franziska Koch.
01:17Other big names include the 2023 winner, Alison Jackson and the former world champion, Elisa Balsamo.
01:24Well, this could well be the toughest addition yet with the organisers adding three more cobbled sectors for a total
01:29of 20.
01:30That is nearly 38 kilometres over the stones and 143 in total.
01:38The live pictures began with just under 60 kilometres remaining, the riders coming off sector 13.
01:45The peloton all together with SD Works setting the pace for their two leaders Capecchi and Vibes.
01:51They were already down to a group of around 35-40 riders with all of the big names in there.
01:56The only exception was Ellie Chabay. She had been briefly distanced by a mechanical but had teammates on hand to
02:02shepherd her back to the pack.
02:06Balsamo also suffering her second puncture of the day.
02:09This is a race where you certainly can't count your chickens before they hatch.
02:14But a good job from FDJ to get Chabay back before the next cobbled sector, with Visma Lisebike now taking
02:21things up at the front.
02:22And the women in yellow doing some serious damage, the 2024 runner-up Balsamo struggling to get back in touch.
02:31The women riding exactly the same final as the men, but still no Truet d'Arombert, so the first five
02:37-star sector was Manson Pevelle at number 11.
02:40And Franzi Koch, who did such a brilliant job of helping Demi Follering to win the Tour of Flanders last
02:45week, decided to up the tempo for FDJ.
02:48The big move of the day though came just as they were coming off the cobbles, the defending champion lighting
02:53things up.
02:55And Pauline Ferron Prevelle has decided, lets up the tempo.
02:58And this is where she made a move a year ago, do you remember?
03:00Yeah, I do.
03:01Straight off Manson Pevelle, up this horrible drag.
03:05Pauline Ferron Prevelle going clear with her team-mate Marianna Vos, plus Koch and the Hungarian champion Blanca Vass of
03:12SD Works.
03:13That quartet already opening up a gap as the rest scrambled to get themselves organised.
03:19Lucinda Brand was leading the chase for Lidl Trek, but there was a crash just behind her coming round this
03:24corner, Lara Gillespie going to ground.
03:27All of a sudden, the four at the front found themselves 40 seconds clear of the bunch.
03:37Well Ferron Prevelle may have been wearing number one, but she was clearly working for Vos, having said she wanted
03:42to see her team-mate win today.
03:44The Dutch legend making an emotional return to racing after the death of her father.
03:50And this situation apparently suited SD Works and FDJ as well, because there wasn't much intensity in the chase.
03:57Those two teams putting their faith in Vass and Koch.
04:01By the time they reached sector seven, the gap was out to a minute and 20 seconds.
04:06It didn't look like Lotte Capecchi would be claiming a second title after 2024.
04:12And now Ferron Prevelle starts to kick again. Another big acceleration from the French rider.
04:20PFP attacking again to make life hard for Blanca Vass and Franzi Koch.
04:25But once they got onto sector six, the German champion said, anything you can do, I can do better.
04:31A huge move from Koch and only Vos could follow. Game over for Blanca Vass.
04:36Well Ferron Prevelle was briefly distanced as well, but she fought her way back to give Visma Lisa Bike the
04:41numerical advantage.
04:43Koch was looking strong though, and she dropped the defending champion a couple more times.
04:48Every time though, PFP clawed her way back.
04:51Further back, Capecchi went for broke from the chase group in the company of Megan Jastrab, but surely they had
04:57left it too late.
04:58The gap was still over a minute after the Carrefour de l'Arbre.
05:02Ferron Prevelle, Koch and Vos heading for the velodrome, and given all of the French woman's efforts,
05:07it would no doubt come down to a sprint between the German and the Dutch woman.
05:16They make their way now into the famous Roubaix Velodrome.
05:21This is the sixth edition of the women's race, and a French rider leads into the velodrome now,
05:27with Franzi Koch looking to upset the Visma Dream.
05:31They get the bell this time. One lap of this velodrome in Roubaix.
05:35Three riders, two riders from Visma Lisa Bike.
05:39Franziska Koch looking to make it an upset for FDJ United Suez.
05:44She comes up against the greatest of all time and the defending champion, Pauline Ferron Prevelle.
05:50They get set now for this run into the finish line. Ferron Prevelle is holding them up the track.
05:56She's giving Mariana Vos the time. Mariana Vos goes.
06:00Franzi Koch kicks. They go shoulder to shoulder. Vos goes around the top.
06:04Franzi Koch fights her way back. Mariana Vos tries to kick and use the tailwind to go for victory.
06:11It's Mariana Vos, Franzi Koch on the line. It's going to be.
06:16Franzi Koch wins the Paris-Roubaix Vam.
06:23Franziska Koch denying Visma Lisa Bike a Roubaix double and taking the biggest win of her career in some style.
06:29The German outperforming two of the greatest bike racers of all time to land another major classic for FDJ this
06:36season.
06:37A sensational effort from the German champion.
06:40Having two riders of the same team is on the one hand a challenge, on the other hand also a
06:45benefit a little bit.
06:46Because the work is not necessarily on you.
06:50But I tried to get rid of them a little bit.
06:53But in the end I had to gamble for the sprint and it worked out.
06:59Well Koch taking it by a whisker from Vos with Ferron Prevost a few seconds back in third.
07:04Capecchi and Jastrab finished a minute and a half back with Vibus leading in the rest at two minutes twenty.
07:10Koch becoming the first German winner of Paris-Roubaix Vam and making it six different nationalities in six editions.
07:16Join us again next year to see if the Dutch can finally break their duck at the hell of the
07:20north.
07:21And thanks for watching.
