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Tokyo Olympics: "She runs in a dangerous way", "she disconnects the brain", settling of scores between the Olympic mountain bike champion and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot

2021-07-27T10:22:14.917Z


The Swiss Jolanda Neff, with whom Pauline Ferrand-Prévot struggled in the lead before her fall in the first lap, attacked the behavior


This is perhaps where the gold medal in women's mountain biking at the Tokyo Olympics was played. We tackle the first lap of the Izu circuit, and two cyclists, the Frenchwoman Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and the Swiss Jolanda Neff, are in the lead of the race. But in a stony climb, the tricolor goes to the right, loses balance on his bike and falls to the side of the track. Then, his mountain bike glides along the slope, made slippery by the heavy morning rains. The future Olympic champion takes off, leaving “PFP” to waste a lot of time on this part of the track.

For the tricolor clan, all the responsibility for the fall falls on Jolanda Neff, headliner of a Switzerland who achieved the treble in this race on Tuesday.

"There is a Jolanda Cup in front of Pauline, we are at the limit," said the manager of the French mountain biking team, Yvan Clolus.

A few minutes earlier, still annoyed by the turn of a race which saw her finish tenth, the reigning world champion had also attacked her rival.

"It completely disconnects the brain"

"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

, loose PFP.

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.

"

🚵♀ Pauline Ferrand-Prévot falls and wastes time.

The French left behind at the head of the race.

# Tokyo2020 #Olympic



Games Follow the Olympics live ▶ https://t.co/DbgV1naW1I pic.twitter.com/LaC2q2qrPE

- France tv sport (@francetvsport) July 27, 2021

A version to which the Swiss do not subscribe at all.

So far smiling and on her little post-coronation cloud, the 2017 world champion hardened her eyes and sharpened her tone when the question on the origin of the fall of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot was asked at a press conference.

“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 hump, and I couldn't do anything at all, she said. I had gained speed to jump, and not at all to ride on it. I didn't brake to get over the bump because it was below it at reduced speed, and in a few moments I had to change options and turn left. I'm really lucky I didn't fall, it was a stupid gesture on her part, it's really dangerous. "

If we did not find a video of this sequence, an AFP photographer attended the scene, and took two pictures.

A first, where we see the Frenchwoman taking a wooden footbridge through her middle, where Neff passes on her left, in the void.

AFP / Greg Baker GREG BAKER

In the second photo, taken immediately after, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot runs down the slope after the footbridge.

Always on his left, the front wheel of his opponent seems to hit the ground, giving the feeling of a jump not really mastered.

AFP / Greg Baker GREG BAKER

"I don't know why she did that, or if she knew I was right behind, but after that I was like:

OK, I have to get away from her because she is running in a dangerous way, you never know what she's doing

. So afterwards, I chose the left because it was on the right, describes Jolanda Neff. I'm really happy I made that choice, because I was able to take the lead and she fell. If I had been behind her, on her next crazy move, where she fell on the way up ... 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. "

In the fight with Sina Frei and Linda Indergand for the silver medal after this fall, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot lost any chance of getting on her first Olympic podium after a puncture in the third round. The other tricolor engaged and also favorite of the race, Loana Lecomte, finished sixth. But without controversy with the Swiss team.

Source: leparis

All sports articles on 2021-07-27

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