A year after wondering if she could make a cycling comeback, Audrey Cordon-Ragot has come to Adelaide on a mission.
The French cyclist is using the Tour Down Under's well-known summer heat as a key training block ahead of the Paris Olympics.
Cordon-Ragot is in the midst of an impressive comeback from ill-health and misfortune.
She was supposed to compete at the 2022 world road championships in Wollongong, but pulled out after suffering a stroke.
Cordon-Ragot recovered and was supposed to ride for the B&B Team, but it collapsed.
She then went to Zaaf, but left in April last year, accusing the team of not paying wages.
Cordon-Ragot finally joined Human Powered Health and has regained form, with Paris now her focus.
"One year ago, I was not so good, I was still doubting if I could come back, or not, on the bike," she said.
"In the end, I had probably the best start of a season in my career.
"So yeah, it's been a big rollercoaster, the last year, and obviously I'm super happy, super-proud.
"Now I just want to focus on the Olympics."
Cordon-Ragot will compete in the January 12-14 Tour for the second time, starting the season with her home Olympics as the key focus.
"The Olympics have been what motivated me to come back. I was just thinking about it - that's the goal, I'm going to come back because I want to be in Paris on the start line," she said.
"Yeah, without that, I'm not sure I would be here."
Cordon-Ragot, 34, arrived in Adelaide only a couple of days ago after preparing for the Olympics in the depths of the French winter.
She set up her indoor bike in the bathroom and cranked up the heat to replicate the Adelaide summer conditions.
"It might be a bit hard, the first few days," she noted.
But Cordon-Ragot is looking at the Australian trip more as a way to adapt to the heat she expects to face at the July-August Paris Games, with the road race and time trial her goals.
"Obviously, I'm not coming here with the best shape, but it was planned," she said.
"It's a nice block of warm training, trying to go closer to the conditions I will get.
"It's also very nice to be here, I like the atmosphere, I like the race."
Cordon-Ragot's main teammate in Adelaide is American Ruth Edwards (nee Winder), who in 2020 became the only non-Australian to win the women's Tour Down Under.
