Stage 4 winner Marlen Reusser (SD Worx) revealed that on the start line this morning, she didn’t know she could win a stage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
The Swiss rider took an opportunity to attack in the final 25km of the gravel-filled stage, powering away from the lead group as the GC contenders looked at each other behind.
“I don’t know if I ever realised I could win a Tour de France stage, actually not even this morning maybe,” she said of her victory.
Reusser explained how although her attacking for the victory was not necessarily the specific plan or expectation of the day, the team intended to make the race hard and the result was an opportunity she had to take.
“We go and we make a hard race,” she said. “That was the goal, to make a hard race, to create a situation that would put us in favour to try some good attacks. I just followed the process. We tried and we had this perfect situation, we were in a small group only, with five riders. So if we don’t go to try it then, then never.
“It’s clear we needed to make use of this situation, so I was not the only one of our team to attack. We all attacked a lot of times, and the fact it was this attack that went clear was a bit of luck."
With Reusser not a threat on GC, there was little motivation to chase from behind and she quickly built up more than 30 seconds of advantage. Though the Swiss rider is a strong time trialist, she also recognised that her victory was down to the way the group rode behind.
“It’s also still a decision in the remaining bunch if they let you really go, it’s not only up to you,” she said. “It’s nice in a stage race that they have this interest in still contesting for the GC, so it’s not like a one-day race, it’s different, so that was really nice.
“It’s always the same process [with the chase]. Once people understand they won’t make it, the time goes up. Before it’s difficult to get time because they chase, and then once the chase gets slower, you gain time and it stays like this.”
SD Worx did make the race hard on stage 4 and they took the win, but the plan to possibly gain some time on the general classification for Demi Vollering or Ashley Moolman Pasio did not pay off.
The constant fight for position into the sectors, and then the regrouping and reevaluating, made it difficult to keep the pace high, Reusser explained.
“One problem was that we didn’t have our riders together always," she said. “First you need to understand who is there, and after this gravel the roads are still difficult, so you need a moment to understand who is there, because if you were alone, you cannot just go. Then sometimes we were not complete, we missed two riders I think twice, we had to wait to get them back so we wouldn’t attack.”
This win comes after a difficult period of the season where COVID-19 sidelined her from her home Tour de Suisse and national championships, but the 30-year-old was reluctant to make too much of the victory.
“I really don’t like to chart wins or compare things,” she said. “I think each of these moments are special and I really enjoy it, but also I don’t overestimate it. I think life is the same before and after, and it’s so nice to have this in your pocket and go through this also with the SD Worx team and the staff, but it’s just a nice thing in life.”
