At the start of this season, Marlen Reusser might not have been considered a serious contender for the yellow jersey at the Tour de France Femmes. We would have spoken about Anna van der Breggen who has returned to the peloton for an unprecedented comeback season, we probably would have cited former world champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot who switched the mountain bike for the road bike this year, and we definitely would have put bets on Kasia Niewiadoma and Demi Vollering, who finished first and second in the 2024 edition. But that was then. We are now approximately halfway through the 2025 racing season and everything has changed.
Speaking to Rouleur in March of this year, Reusser explained why she had made the choice to leave her former team, SD Worx, and join the Spanish outfit Movistar: “It was me, Lotte [Kopecky] and Demi [Vollering] all on one team, which was a bit special. It wasn’t the situation I wanted to be in anymore. Not because they aren’t nice people, but because I want to race against them. I think I was seeking for my own place, to really be able to give it everything and do what I believe I can do.”
While many might not have expected the type of form that Reusser has shown in stage races and in the mountains so far this season, the above quote makes it clear that the Swiss rider had plenty of belief in herself. The 33-year-old was aware that if she could go up against the likes of Vollering, mano a mano, rather than being a domestique for the Dutch rider, she had a chance of matching the level of her former teammate. Throughout this year, Reusser has been steadily proving, time and time again, that she was right to trust herself. After almost six months out of the peloton suffering with long-Covid Reusser is back and better than ever.
“I think me and Demi have a rivalry the whole year and I’m making so many steps at this moment, and I think I’m really developing a lot and I think it will keep being interesting,” Reusser smiled after she took her most recent victory at the Tour de Suisse, finishing 30 seconds ahead of Vollering on the final general classification. “It’s great, I’m really, really happy. I’m back in life and super happy and today I don’t think about last year.”
Her win in Switzerland was just the most recent in a string of impressive results from Reusser: she finished a close second to Vollering in both Setmana Ciclista Valenciana and the Vuelta España Femenina, and took the overall in Vuelta a Burgos Feminas, almost two minutes ahead of Elisa Longo Borghini – who is an established climber in her own right. With these performances in mind, and the fact that she was able to get the better of both Vollering and Niewiadoma at the Tour de Suisse, has Reusser emerged as an unexpected favourite for the Tour de France Femmes?
“Of course, she is in really good shape, so she will go for the GC as well,” Vollering said to Rouleur the day after finishing second at the Tour de Suisse. “For me, it’s nice to race with Marlen again because she had so much bad luck last year and I thought she might never come back to cycling which would have been sad as she is such a good rider. I’m happy to see she is healthy and able to perform at the top level again.”
The FDJ-Suez rider also mentioned that she was suffering through fatigue and some illness during the Tour de Suisse, arguing she wasn’t in her top form to try and challenge Reusser.
Of course, it is important to note that the parcours of the Tour de France Femmes are very different from those the peloton tackled in Switzerland – three real mountain stages come at the end of the race including long climbs like the Col de la Madeleine, which should suit Vollering best. However, the days leading up to that are Classics-style stages where we can expect Reusser to thrive. In addition, the Swiss rider’s win at the Vuelta a Burgos on the queen stage to Picón Blanco is proof that she can handle long, steep gradients. Unlike the men’s Tour which spans over three weeks, the nine stage Tour de France Femmes does not provide the same terrain for the true climbers in the peloton to really come to the fore – it’s not out of the question that a strong all-rounder like Reusser could hold on for victory in the mountains. We saw puncheur Lotte Kopecky do similar in 2023, where she looked like a contender for the GC for much of the race.
With just over one month until the Tour de France Femmes commences, the hierarchy in the women’s peloton is finely poised. Reusser has emerged as a serious threat to the likes of Vollering and Niewiadoma, while riders like Van der Breggen and Ferrand-Prévot have kept a low profile over the last few weeks. Has Reusser peaked too soon? Is Vollering going to be able to find her top form by the end of July? Reusser and Longo-Borghini will go head-to-head at the Giro d’Italia Donne before the Tour, while Vollering will spend time at altitude, only racing her National Championships before the Grand Départ in Vannes. Which approach is best? Only time will tell, but we can be certain of a serious showdown between the favourites in the fight for yellow.
