"I’m looking forward, not back anymore” – Shari Bossuyt shares details of doping suspension

Shari Bossuyt has returned to the Tour de France Femmes, two years after a doping suspension turned her life, and her career, upside down. The 24-year-old Belgian, now riding for AG Insurance - Soudal, is making the most of her second chance. In the opening days of the 2025 Tour, she’s already posted top-10 finishes on stages 3 and 4, showing not just fitness but determination to reclaim her place in the peloton.

Her last race before the ban was Paris-Roubaix Femmes in April 2023. Days later, she tested positive for Letrozole, a banned hormone, in an anti-doping control. Bossuyt has consistently denied intentional use, attributing the result to contamination. But the ban stood, sidelining her during what should have been the early years of her career. “It was hard, eh,” she said honestly. “One year ago, I looked and I saw the Tour de France was exactly one month after my return, so that was a big dream to train for it.”

That dream is now real. Bossuyt’s comeback has been anything but rusty, it’s been competitive. Alongside her Tour results, she placed inside the top 10 at both the Belgian national road race and time trial championships earlier this summer. The results suggest a rider still building race fitness, but already close to her former level. “I think I’m missing a little bit of race fitness, so I think only every day can be better,” she told Cycling Weekly.

How does it feel to be back in the bunch? “Oh, really good,” she said with a smile. “I’m really happy to be back, to be actually riding the Tour de France. It’s incredible… I only dreamed of it.”

The path back hasn’t been just physical. In a social media post from January, Bossuyt opened up about the toll of being labeled. “No one seems to realise what an impact this has on someone's mental health,” she wrote. “Having to walk around every day with the 'stamp' of a doper, it's almost unbearable.” It’s a sentence that reveals the weight she’s carried, one that doesn’t disappear just because her ban is over.

“It was a really hard time, but it was the situation,” she said, accepting what happened but refusing to be defined by it. Bossuyt isn’t asking for forgiveness, she’s asking to be seen for the rider she still is. At the Tour, she’s letting her legs speak first and then the fans can make their judgement.

And now? “I’m looking forward, not back anymore.”