"I was angry at the people who told me I shouldn’t" - Michel Hessmann on aftermath of anti-doping violation and second chance in the peloton

Michel Hessmann went through a seven-month suspension during his time with Team Visma | Lease a Bike, which ultimately ended his stint with the Dutch team. He has since returned to the peloton in the colours of Movistar Team almost a year ago, and details his current perspective as well as how he felt after having been suspended.

“Yes, very much at the start. And I was angry at the people who told me I shouldn’t, but now I’m grateful to them," Hessmann told In de Leiderstrui. “In the end it only costs energy, and people will think what they want anyway.”

Hessmann wasn't satisfied at first for not being able to tell his side of the story, after having tested positive for a diuretic only weeks after the 2023 Giro d'Italia, where he assisted Primoz Roglic to victory. This was only discovered in 2024, but he was forced to miss the entire season - due to the suspension and then due to the lack of a team wanting to sign him mid-season. However into 2025, Movistar took the gamble on the German.

“It’s a completely different life again, and I experience it differently than I used to. I got a brief chance to taste a ‘normal’ life—at least as normal as you can be with a legal case hanging over you. But it’s still more normal than life as a cyclist, and it has brought lasting changes. I won’t be the same cyclist or the same person, but I wouldn’t want to change anything about it.”

2025 was a completely different season then the previous ones, with the 24-year old now in a completely different structure. He was put in a wide variety of stage-races throughout the season, culminating in the Vuelta a España where he raced his only Grand Tour besides the 2023 Giro. “I’ve gained a very different perspective. The worst-case scenario of ending up in a ‘normal life’… it’s actually not that bad. It has given me a different perspective on cycling. Being a cyclist—and someone like Ide Schelling will say the same—is a really special life.”

Now combining pro cycling with university, the German has split his priorities which allows him to have a more balanced life. “I can now say it’s not worth more than everything else anymore, it has become more a part of my life. I do it because it’s my passion, but not more than that.”

His return to the peloton was also positively seen by some of his peers, including in Visma, after Hessmann missed an entire year of racing. “Very positively. Most riders—even those I barely knew—said it was beautiful that I was back. Everyone has that fear that something like this could happen to them…”