Officials have relegated Pauline Ferrand-Prévot at Milan-San Remo for deviating from her line and obstructing another rider during the race in the final sprint, confirmed race organisers following the event on Saturday.
The Visma-Lease a Bike rider initially finished fourth on the day, behind the winner Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime), out of a small group of 12 riders that sprinted for the win.
She was later relegated to 12th, given a yellow card warning and fined 200 CHF for an "irregular sprint."
According to the official race communique, Art. 2.12.007-5.1 states, "Deviation from the chosen line that obstructs another rider," as the reason for their decision to relegate Ferrand-Prévot.
Ferrand-Prévot started the race as one of the favourites, alongside her teammate Marianne Vos, who finished second on the day.
The French rider stretched the peloton out on the descent of the Cipressa before, causing splits among the reduced group. A small group of 12 riders then emerged over the Poggio.
Italian National Champion Elisa Longo Borghini (Team UAE ADQ) made a late-race attack after the hectic descent off the Poggio, but she was caught at the line as Wiebes sprinted for the win ahead of Vos and Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly).
In that sprint, some of the riders in that group, including Ferrand-Prévot, veered slightly to the left to get around a fading Kopecky as she completed her lead-out for Wiebes, in the process Ferrand-Prévot moving slightly into the line of Rüegg in the last metres of the race.
Ferrand-Prévot had crossed the line in fourth place before officials made the decision to relegate her to the back of the small group in 12th.
Ferrand-Prévot later responded to the official's decision on Instagram. “It’s a shame I was relegated from fourth to twelfth place. I can understand that it looked dangerous, but in that situation, things are just different. But it doesn’t matter—right now, I’m mainly really happy about Marianne’s second place.”
It had been a strong performance to add to her third at Strade Bianche earlier this month, and an indication of how she will stack up against the WorldTour peloton in the races ahead.
No one knew what to expect when Ferrand-Prévot made the decision to retire from mountain biking and return to road racing with Visma-Lease a Bike this year. The 15-time elite World Champion and 2024 mountain biking Olympic Champion has now committed to the road full-time, at least for the next three years.
Numerous new and revised UCI rules came into effect January 1, 2025 which saw the official roll-out of the yellow-card system for safety violations and more specific rules surrounding sprint finishes.
Although Ferrand-Prévot was the only rider relegated at Milan-San Remo, she was not the only rider to receive a yellow card. Compatriot Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) also received the warning, along with a 100 CHF fine, -5 points from the UCI ranking for "pushing another rider", according to article Art. 2.12.007/4.3.
