“I missed the moment to go really deep” - Marlen Reusser refuses to blame bike choice after crushing Giro d’Italia Women defeat

Marlen Reusser refused to pin her Giro d’Italia Women time trial defeat on bike choice after Anna van der Breggen blew the race apart on the climb to Nevegal Tudor.

The world time trial champion finished second on Stage 4, 1:04 behind Van der Breggen, after starting the 12.7km uphill test on a road bike. Demi Vollering, who rode a time trial bike, finished six seconds behind Reusser in third, while Van der Breggen was untouchable on the day, taking the stage victory and moving into the maglia rosa.

Reusser had set the first elite benchmark at the finish in 32:42, but Van der Breggen’s ride changed the scale of the stage. The Dutchwoman stopped the clock in 31:38, putting more than a minute into both Reusser and Vollering on the first major GC test of the race.

Speaking after the stage in her flash interview, Reusser was quick to look at her own pacing rather than simply blaming equipment. “I had doubts anyway about my time trial,” said the Movistar rider. “I was thinking I might have to leave [the hot seat]. I think I missed the moment to go really deep today, just felt too good, I really missed the moment and I think it was way too easy TT. Not so good from my side.”

The bike question was impossible to ignore. Reusser rode the stage on a road bike, while Vollering and Van der Breggen were among those to opt for time trial bikes. On a course that began with gentler roads before pitching up more sharply after the first split, the choice carried obvious risk either way.

Reusser was only third at the first checkpoint, four seconds slower than Sigrid Ytterhus Haugset, but accelerated strongly once the gradients stiffened. Her ride was enough to beat Vollering, Antonia Niedermaier, Elisa Longo Borghini and the rest of the GC field, but not enough to threaten Van der Breggen.

“If you’re slower then of course, you’re thinking you should have chosen the other bike,” Reusser admitted. “So when I was watching, I was thinking I should have chosen the other bike. It’s always easy to decide [after].”

She stopped short of turning that into an excuse. Van der Breggen’s margin was too large for Reusser to reduce the result to equipment alone. “I think I did but not a really good TT,” she said. “I wouldn’t say if I had a TT bike that I would have won.”

Reusser’s reaction underlined the scale of Van der Breggen’s performance. The former Giro winner did not edge the stage by a handful of seconds. She demolished the field, beating Reusser by 1:04, Vollering by 1:10 and Antonia Niedermaier by 1:26. “A minute that Anna was faster is a lot, chapeau, really good performance,” Reusser said.

The result reshaped the Giro after three opening days dominated by Elisa Balsamo. The Italian had held pink after inheriting Stage 1 following Lorena Wiebes’ expulsion and then winning Stages 2 and 3 on the road, but the climb to Nevegal moved the race firmly towards the GC contenders.

For Reusser, second place still leaves her in a strong position overall, but the first mountain time trial belonged completely to Van der Breggen. The Giro now heads into Stage 5 with a new leader, a widened GC hierarchy, and Reusser already questioning the moment she let the stage slip away.