Olympic cross-country champion ahead of her compatriots Sina Frei and Linda Indergand, the Swiss Jolanda Neff was the target of the French clan after the final on the Izu circuit where Pauline Ferrand-Prévôt (10th), victim of a fall, and Loana Lecomte (6th) did not shine.
For the manager of the Blues Yvan Clolus, Neff was at the origin of the first setbacks of Ferrand-Prévôt, who fell during the first lap in a stone climb.
"There is a Jolanda cut in front of Pauline, we are at the limit,
" said the technician in comments relayed by Le Parisien.
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The full Olympic program
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Fall, loss of his mountain bike, descent in the classification… Ferrand-Prévôt's moment of distress
She's one of the best in the world when she makes no mistakes
Pauline Ferrand-Prévôt on Jolanda Neff.
"
She took a left, I took a right, and there you go.
I said to myself: If I don't brake and she doesn't either, we orbit,
explained Pauline Ferrand-Prévôt
.
I know Jolanda is quite unpredictable.
Technically it turns off the brain completely.
She's one of the best in the world when she doesn't make mistakes
. "
This is not the first time that she has made such moves
Jolanda Neff on Pauline Ferrand-Prévôt.
With the gold medal around her neck, Jolanda Neff gave her version of the facts. It differs, of course. “
Just before that place where she fell, there was a big jump, twenty seconds before. We approached, she was in front of me, and we were going at a good speed. And suddenly, a meter before the jump, she braked really hard to get over the bump, and I couldn't do anything at all (…) I'm really lucky I didn't fall, it was a stupid gesture of her part, it's really dangerous,
said the Olympic champion, up against her French opponent
. I said to myself: OK, I have to get away from her because she is running in a dangerous way, you never know what she is doing. So afterwards, I chose the left because it was on the right. I am really happy to have made this choice, because I was able to take the lead and it fell (…) I was lucky. It's not the first time she's done things like this, I was just happy not to be close to her afterwards
. " Atmosphere.