Marlen Reusser (Movistar) seems to be stronger than ever this season. Having already won the Vuelta a Burgos Féminas and Tour de Suisse Women, the 33-year-old flew around the course of the Giro d’Italia Women opening ITT in Bergamo in her Swiss National Champion’s jersey to seize both the stage and take the pink jersey.
This string of success must give Reusser a feeling of redemption after a nightmare 2024 season that was plagued with illness, when she couldn’t know if she would return to her previous levels.
“Last spring, I was ill for two weeks, and it just kept getting worse. We couldn’t figure out what was wrong. In June, ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics, I tried getting back on the bike, but I had a fever that would spike one day and drop the next,” Reusser said during the race press conference after her victory in Bergamo.
Reusser had been registered for the Swiss championships last year but did not start them, and eventually, she was diagnosed with long COVID-19 in August.
“I couldn’t believe it and struggled to accept it. The problem is every time you do something, your health deteriorates," she said, describing her ordeal.
"I was chronically ill. I was scared, because I know there are people who never recover from it.”
Instead of racing for gold at the Paris Olympics, Reusser had to take time off from racing, even training, to recover from her illness. She succeeded in her recovery and built for a strong 2025 season. But with the last year in mind, it is no surprise that Reusser was erring on the side of caution going into the Giro stage 1 time trial, and this despite her victories in the Vuelta a Burgos closing ITT and the Swiss ITT championships.
“I was not sure how good my TT is, and it’s a really big dream of mine to win here and to wear pink. I was like, ‘oh, I’m not sure it’s good enough’, now I won, I can almost not believe it, I’m super happy,” Reusser said when her victory was - finally - secure.
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