After several seasons of being the peloton's top time trialist, Marlen Reusser finally claimed the world title in the discipline on Sunday, powering to victory in Kigali, more than 50 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor, and minutes ahead of others.
The Swiss rider has won countless time trials at national, European and WorldTour level, but the rainbow jersey always evaded her, until now.
Despite revealing she suffered with some illness in the run up to the race, after sickness also took her out of the Tour de France Femmes earlier this summer, everything came together for Reusser on a very tough course in Kigali.
"Of course this is super special for me," she said as the win began to sink in. "I came into the sport as a super talented time trialist, I won so many time trials, I actually beat many of the riders who were world champ in other races, but never in the World Championships or the Olympic games, so for me this was a Knacknuss, we say in German – a nut you have to open hard. So I'm happy I opened it today."
Reusser has finished on the podium of the Road World Championships time trial three times already, but was there a secret ingredient that saw her step onto the top step of the podium this year?
The Swiss rider trained at altitude in preparation for the race, and worked on heat adaptation – temperatures topped out at 28 degrees during the women's time trial – and she also pointed to her climbing ability and heavier stature as a good combination on this course, but didn't identify one singular thing that delivered her to the win on Sunday.
"If there was one recipe and everybody knew if you train these trainings, you do that, then you're the fastest, then it would be easy, no? So it's many things that need to work together," she said, pointing to the fact that podium finishers Anna van der Breggen and Demi Vollering both also prepared at altitude.
"This is the question we all ask ourselves the whole year, what do we need to do to be fastest? And there are so many details and aspects that play into that, and it's about finding your path, your way, how you become fast. I think we learned a lot with me over the past years what works well, what works better, what could change. Maybe you could do altitude and come here and still not win, so it's many things that come together."
Come together it did on Sunday, but that hasn't always been the way for Reusser, who has seen injury, illness and mental challenge derail some of her biggest goals over the last few seasons. At the same time, she's become European champion, won countless stage races, taken victories at the Tour de France Femmes, and finished second overall at both the Vuelta Femenina and the Giro d'Italia.
Though much has been made of the challenges Reusser has faced – only a year ago she was completely sidelined with long Covid – the 34-year-old was reflective about not putting too much focus on the negatives.
"It's up and down, but it's not unique with me. Some have even lower downs, and they get stuck in a down and you don't hear anything from them anymore, so that's why you're aware, because I go also over my highs and you see me performing well.
"For example, we started the altitude camp with Swiss Cycling three weeks ago, one rider arrived with a crash and had a torn muscle and could not really ride well, one had very bad a skin injury that needed a transplantation of skin in the end, I had a bit of viral infection. Our national coach, the first evening, he said 'you know guys, some few ones are blessed with being stuck on a longer high, but it's more about how well you ride the wave'. Because life is a wave."
Riding that wave and being able to harness those high moments has not only delivered Reusser to the rainbow jersey she's been trying to crack, but also made the win even sweeter
"In sport if you just perform well, well, well, you win, you win, you win, then what does the win mean?," she said. "I think life is more up and down. Also now, I'm so happy I won, it's a kind of bliss, but I don't over charge it, I don't feel better now because I'm world champ, I just won today because nobody was faster, it's nothing so crazy actually.
"So if you don't over charge this, but you also don't over charge the lows, and you just ride the wave, life actually is pretty nice."
Subscribe to Cyclingnews to unlock unlimited access to our coverage of the first-ever UCI Road World Championships on African soil. Our team of journalists will bring you all the major storylines, in-depth analysis, and more directly from the action in Rwanda as the next rainbow jerseys are decided. Find out more.
