Sometimes, accidents can be good. Penicillin was discovered by mistake by Alexander Fleming, X-rays were stumbled upon by Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen, while chocolate chips cookies were first made by Ruth Wakefield, who was trying to melt the chocolate entirely.
A happy accident occurred for Pauline Ferrand-Prévot on Saturday at Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift, as the Visma-Lease a Bike rider won a race that she didn't aim to win, a race she wasn't even supposed to be at altogether. The 33-year-old attacked with 19km to go and was never seen again by the chasing bunch, despite it being a move that sought to tire legs rather than achieve victory.
"I was not feeling super well the last few days," the Frenchwoman explained. "I crashed in Strade [Bianche] and since then I didn’t totally recover from the crash, I got an infection on my ankle and I had to take antibiotics. I skipped training yesterday because I felt very weak. I didn’t have a fever this morning so we just tried;. I was not very sure about my condition this morning.
"The goal [of the attack] was to make the sprinters tired, to bring Marianne [Vos] as fresh as possible to the finish so she could sprint for the win. I attacked at a good moment, Marianne asked me to go on the cobbles, and I said it was smart to wait a little and attack on the tarmac, and that’s what I did. After it was not super organised behind and I had a gap, and I went full gas to make them work.
"I was not thinking about winning the race, I just wanted to make SD Worx work. It's super cool."
That's not to denigrate Ferrand-Prévot's performance; the 33-year-old held off some of the best riders in the world, including Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) and Chloé Dygert (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) off for the final half an hour, meaning she entered a packed velodrome alone. It also followed second place at the Tour of Flanders last weekend, no mean feat.
The roar from the crowd as she entered the Roubaix Velodrome was truly spine-tingling, as was the rendition of the Marseillaise, the French national anthem, which followed. It just was never supposed to happen.
"It was not in my calendar," Ferrand-Prévot explained. "Normally I was supposed to be at altitude for two weeks again. After Strade and San Remo I asked if I could do [the Tour of] Flanders, and one week later I asked if I could do Roubaix. It was really not on my calendar and it was a last moment decision. It’s what I like with the team, I have a free role, and I race a bit like I want."
The Visma rider has pretty much won everything so far in her career: World Championships on the road, in cyclo-cross, and MTB, as well as the Olympic MTB title. Now her eyes are focused on something even bigger, after she has returned to the road after being away for four years. Her last road win came in 2015, six years before Paris-Roubaix even had a women's race, before the Women's WorldTour came into existence.
"I really want to win the Tour de France, that’s the next big goal of my career," Ferrand-Prévot said. "Winning the Olympics at home was the most beautiful, and now I’m enjoying being back on my road and working with my teammates. I really wanted to win everything on the MTB and now it’s ok if someone else wins from the team because it’s not about me.
"There’s no pressure anymore, and I’m feeling so good. We need to make the team stronger to be able to win Tour, and also to ride longer climbs. I’m looking for the next challenge."
"This first year back on the road is to discover what I can do," she continued. "Even if the main goal is the Tour, Flanders and Roubaix are good for training to be in position. The first three stages of the Tour will be quite hectic, and I wanted to train at being in a good position and fighting. These races are good training."
Despite it seeming as simple as slipping on an old pair of slippers for Ferrand-Prévot, there has been a lot going on behind the scenes.
"It was not easy," she said. "If you saw me last year at the Worlds on the road [she DNFed] you can see it’s not easy, and there was quite a lot of work over the winter. I had to have patience and trust in the process. It’s a completely different sport, so you have to get used to everything. It was also a building process, and now I feel quite comfortable in the bunch. Last weekend I was not comfortable enough to attack, but every week it’s a step process and it’s a bit higher."
Roubaix might have been a happy accident, but like penicillin, Ferrand-Prévot will now hope that she's cracked something now, that this good form can continue all the way to July.
