Marlen Reusser has given her strongest hint yet that her racing days may soon be numbered when the Swiss time trialling star was asked at the Tour de France Femmes presentation about the imminent arrival of Spanish up-and-coming racer Paula Blasi at her Movistar squad.
Blasi had a breakthrough season in 2026 while racing for UAE Team L'IMAD, winning La Vuelta Femenina and Amstel Gold Race, before taking fifth at her debut Tour de France Femmes.
Reusser also had a highly successful Tour, winning the mid-race TT and holding the lead for three days before losing the yellow jersey on Mont Ventoux, before dropping to 14th overall after crashing on the final day in Nice.
Speaking at the Tour de France Femmes route presentation, Reusser also said that it was a pity there was no individual time trial in 2027 but praised the inclusion of the team time trial on stage 3 in London and the Ardennes-like stages 2 and 8.
Whilst pointing out that the Tour is often decided, at least in part, on less mountainous stages, she also said that she was confident of her chances of handling the critical Puy de Dôme climb and its ultra-steep finale.
"I think the Puy de Dôme is closed off to riders right now" – the road is usually shut because the entire volcano is an ecologically sensitive site – "but I remember watching the Tour go up it in 2023; it's a cool climb to finish the Tour," Reusser said.
"I think I can manage the slopes [of 12%] well. I have no idea if it's possible to recon, but if so I'll do it."
Regarding the absence of an individual time trial, reigning world and European champion Reusser confirmed she would have liked that "because that does something very different with the GC. It's not the same. But in any case I love the discipline [of team time trialling], and I think that's very cool."
The very hilly stages could, in any case, be as important for the GC as the setpiece mountain days, of which there is really only the last, as Reusser pointed out, to the point where they might actually decide the race overall. Stage 4 of last year's Tour was a good example of this, where it played a major part in sorting out the GC, with Pauline Ferrand-Prévot showing significant signs of weakness that day.
"Sometimes it's like this, we look at the big mountain stages, but often these [hilly] stages are actually the more important," Reusser said.
"I was just asked if next year's Tour is not as hard as this year. Ok, the big mountains are there, they sound hard, but these hilly stages are even harder in a way, so they can be very crucial for the GC. We saw it last year."
As for whether there would be another 'Project Dijon' for Reusser, similar to the one she built around the time trial last July in the Tour de France Femmes, Reusser smiled but said it was too early to target specific stages.
"I am sure my DS is waiting in the back there; we'll make plans, we have a lot of time to think about what we're going to do with this race, and we'll have some projects for sure," she said..
The question of how long Reusser will continue racing, though, emerged when she was asked how she felt about the arrival of Blasi on the team. Under contract until the end of 2027, Reusser said that she would retire "soon" and pointed out that at 35, she was no longer as young as she once was.
Reusser also said that having a rider like Blasi on the squad offered Movistar an excellent opportunity to plan for a double assault on the Tour GC, given the Spaniard's proven ability to attack in hilly terrain as she did to win Amstel Gold Race last year.
"For Paula, I think this Tour route is perfect because when you see the Ardennes-like stages, I think it's good to have good riders because you can make good tactics," she reasoned.
"And I think she will want to win the Tour in the future, and I think that's a nice thing. I will retire soon. I'm not the youngest anymore, so I think it makes sense to have her on the team; she's a very big talent. It is the Spanish team, too, so that's nice."
Reusser's career has seen her take multiple top time trial titles, including the World Championships as well as holding the leader's jersey in the Tour last summer.
But if she is now thinking that she may be hanging up her wheels in the shorter rather than the longer term, whilst clearly with plans to shine next summer in the Tour again, then Blasi may well be the ideal way for Movistar to keep battling for Grand Tours in the future.
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