Marlen Reusser (Movistar) appears to be stronger than ever this season. Having already received the Vuelta a Burgos Féminas and Tour de Suisse Girls, the 33-year-old flew across the course of the Giro d’Italia Girls opening ITT in Bergamo in her Swiss Nationwide Champion’s jersey to grab each the stage and take the pink jersey.
This string of success should give Reusser a sense of redemption after a nightmare 2024 season that was plagued with sickness, when she couldn’t know if she would return to her earlier ranges.
“Final spring, I used to be ailing for 2 weeks, and it simply stored getting worse. We couldn’t work out what was improper. In June, forward of the Paris 2024 Olympics, I attempted getting again on the bike, however I had a fever that may spike in the future and drop the following,” Reusser mentioned in the course of the race press convention after her victory in Bergamo.
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Reusser had been registered for the Swiss championships final yr however didn’t begin them, and finally, she was recognized with lengthy COVID-19 in August.
“I couldn’t imagine it and struggled to simply accept it. The issue is each time you do one thing, your well being deteriorates,” she mentioned, describing her ordeal.
“I used to be chronically ailing. I used to be scared, as a result of I do know there are individuals who by no means get well from it.”
As an alternative of racing for gold on the Paris Olympics, Reusser needed to take day off from racing, even coaching, to get well from her sickness. She succeeded in her restoration and constructed for a powerful 2025 season. However with the final yr in thoughts, it’s no shock that Reusser was erring on the aspect of warning going into the Giro stage 1 time trial, and this regardless of her victories within the Vuelta a Burgos closing ITT and the Swiss ITT championships.
“I used to be undecided how good my TT is, and it’s a extremely massive dream of mine to win right here and to put on pink. I used to be like, ‘oh, I’m undecided it’s adequate’, now I received, I can nearly not imagine it, I’m tremendous comfortable,” Reusser mentioned when her victory was – lastly – safe.
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