It's been a rough eight months for Audrey Cordon-Ragot.
The French national champion first suffered a stroke ahead of the UCI Road World Championships in September 2022 and then left her team of four years, Trek-Segafredo, to lead the B&B Hotels-KTM women's team that never came to fruition.
Cordon-Ragot, along with American Heidi Franz and Canadian Maggie Coles-Lyster, then found a last-minute home with the Spanish Zaaf Cycling Team, but this, too, proved to be a disappointment.
Despite Cordon-Ragot's early season success with the newly formed team, not all was as it seemed.
While the 33-year-old stood on the podium at Costa De Almería and Omloop van het Hageland and claimed fourth at Le Samyn des Dames and Tour de Normandie Féminin, her salary remained unpaid.
Multiple sources have told Cycling Weekly that Zaaf riders and staff have yet to be paid or reimbursed for their expenses of the past three months. What's more, the conditions and operations of the team are "really not worthy of a professional team," Cardon-Ragot told the French press in early April.
While the Cyclists Alliance, the Spanish Federation and the UCI have since stepped in to try to resolve the situation, Cordon-Ragot submitted her resignation from the Zaaf Cycling Team on March 22 in the hopes of finding better luck elsewhere, yet again.
Today, the American-registered team, Human Powered Health Cycling, announced it has signed the multi-time French national champion. She'll make her debut in the orange and black team colors this Saturday as she leads the team at Paris-Roubaix Femmes.
"Audrey is an immense talent. It's an honor to have a French national champion line up with us for Paris-Roubaix," said the team's general manager, Ro De Jonckere.
"We are delighted to bring Audrey on board – her health journey is incredibly inspiring. She's another example of Human Powered Health and we can't wait to help her share her story."
Born in Brittany, Cordon-Ragot is an all-rounder who has won an impressive eight national championships across the road and time trial disciplines. A strong contender in the race against the clock, Cordon-Ragot's palmares includes wins at Chrono des Nations and the time trials at Simac Ladies Tour and Postnord Vårgårda road race. She's also won the GC at Bretagne Ladies Tour twice, a stage at La Route de France, the Drentse Acht van Westerveld race and two editions of Cholet Pays de Loire Dame.
At the start of the 2023 season, after recovering from her health scare in the fall, Cordon-Ragot impressed by finishing in the top ten for six of her eleven race days, showing that she's in great form.
"After my stroke, I was just fighting to come back and focusing on nothing else. Now in the races I'm always thinking, 'Yes, Audrey you are suffering but you can suffer more, you've already proven it' and that's something that makes me a new woman, a new rider," Cordon-Ragot said in a statement.
As for her resilience in finding a professional team environment in the 2023 season?
"One of my qualities is to adapt quickly to any environment. I'm going to be so motivated whatever the situation," she said.
The infamously hard Paris-Roubaix Femmes, the pinnacle of the cobbled classics, will take place this Saturday, April 8. It's the third edition of the women's event and will feature a 145-kilometer course with 17 cobblestone sectors and the iconic velodrome finish.
The race will be streamed live on FloBikes and Peacock for fans in the U.S. and on GCN+ for viewers in Europe.
