Pauline Ferrand-Prevot's debut with Ineos Grenadiers came after she suffered mechanical problems at the Koppenbergcross in Belgium on Tuesday, struggling with a Shimano groupset on her new Pinarello Crossista F She was forced to.

In her first cyclocross race in two years, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot expected little and admitted that the Koppenbergcross race was a training opportunity.

"Today is my first day. It's brutal and it will be painful for my body, but I think you have to start somewhere," Ferrand-Prevot said before the race, wearing a team-supplied Shimano Pinarello Crocista F and a new Ineos Grenadier kit with custom French colors splashed across the upper rear triangle. [Ferran-Prevot's chain dropped off on the opening lap and appeared to jam.

Video footage showed one rider after another passing Ferran-Prevot, who was using a Shimano Dura-Ace 2x setup, as he struggled with the shift lever and simultaneously tried to reinstall the chain on the front chainring.

"It was my first cyclocross race, so I wasn't sure how it would go. I hadn't had much rest since the end of the mountain bike season, but I felt good right away." Unfortunately, I had a mechanical problem," Ferran-Prevot said.

On the long ride to the mechanic's pit, Ferrand-Prevot managed to get the chain back on, but after only a short section of the circuit, it jammed again and she had to get off the bike and ride the rest of the course to the mechanic's pit.

The Ineos Grenadiers pit crew was located at the far end of the zone, so Ferrand-Prevot had to run to the pits to pick up her spare bike from the mechanics.

After being taken off his bike mid-race and again on the last lap, Ferrand-Prevot tried to put his chain back on, but it came off again on the last corner.

She then hoisted her bike onto her shoulders and raced up the steep, cobbled slopes of the Koppenberg to finish in 12th place, 6:15 behind the day's winner, Femme van Empel.

"My racing shoes slipped on the Koppenberg, and for a moment I thought I was done for. My chain kept blocking. Finally, the derailleur jammed and the gears stopped working. So I put the bike on the shoulder and walked away," Ferrand-Prevot said.

The multiple-discipline world champion has signed a two-year contract with Ineos Grenadier, with the 2024 Paris Olympics as her goal. The 30-year-old, the first woman to sign with the British team, will be part of the team's growing off-road contingent in cyclocross, gravel and mountain bike racing.

Ferrand-Prevot has four road (2014), cyclocross (2015), and cross-country mountain bike titles (2015, 2019, 2020, 2022) and two XCM Marathon titles (2019, 2022), 10 individual elite world titles during her career, including one short track mountain bike title (2022) and a gravel world title (2022).

She was also part of the French national team that won team relay world titles in 2014, 2015, and 2016, adding to her illustrious career.

With recent world titles in XCO Cross Country, XCM Marathon, XCC Short Track, and Gravel, she will be looking for her fifth simultaneous world title at the UCI Cyclocross World Championships in Vogelheide on February 4.

Ferrand-Prevot will next compete in the cyclocross European Championships in Namur on November 5.

"It was good to get back into the rhythm again and test the equipment. It didn't go well today.